Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Joseph, the Worker
1st Reading:
Acts 14:19-28 Gospel:
Matthew 13:54-58
Jesus went to his hometown and taught the people in their synagogue. They were amazed and said, “Where did he get this wisdom and these special powers? Isn’t he the carpenter’s son? Isn’t Mary his mother and aren’t James, Joseph, Simon and Judas his brothers? Aren’t all his sisters living here? How did he get all this?” And so they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them, “The only place where prophets are not welcome is their hometown and in their own family.” And he did not perform many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Today is the Feast of St. Joseph, the patron of all workers. Apropos of hard work Anatole France, writer of “Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard”, wrote: “Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.” This sounds like man is condemned to perpetual work.
Whether or not your experience tells you of something similar, understand that work was not intended to be man’s scourge from the start. In fact it used to be a godly act, for God himself worked for six days and rested only for a day.
It was only when sin entered into the picture that work was offered as a punishment. This was when God said to Adam and Eve: “You shall eat by the sweat of your brow.” But God sanctified work again by sending his Son to the world through a family of workers headed by St. Joseph the carpenter. St. Joseph had to live and feed the holy family by the sweat of his brow. St. Joseph had infused deeper meaning to work and gives all workers a sense of vision in all their endeavors. Jesus too assumed the profession of his foster father. In so doing he himself sanctified work and raised its dignity as a tool of salvation.
Let us respect work then much as we respect the God who restored its dignity. Drug lords must find decent source of income to feed their children, employees must be honest in the workplace even without the supervisor looking, while the self employed must be honest with their products and services. It is not only about the good name they pass on to their children; it’s really about salvation.
In Luke 3:10-14 honesty in work was also the advice of John the Baptist to the people he had baptized and who had asked him what to do. He told the tax collectors to collect only the amount they were supposed to collect, and the soldiers to avoid extortion and to be content with their pay.
In the plan of salvation God ordained to restore dignity to work. It’s pathetic that the way people behave in the workplace, work is still a big scourge for them. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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