As you may recall, we celebrated the feast of Saint Joseph, husband of Mary, on March 19th.
But he is so important, the Church wanted to honor him more, and they found a way.
For decades, May Day was the occasion for Communist countries to parade their military power. On this day in 1955, Pope Pius XII inaugurated the celebration of Saint Joseph the Worker. It seemed comical, even absurd, to raise up Joseph to challenge the Communist military machine on its May Day march, but look at what happened! The disintegration of Communism is often attributed to the Lord working through the prayers of His people, and especially in response to the apparitions of Mother Mary at Fatima in 1917, urging all to pray and do penance for the conversion of Russia.
That being said, it is also true that the Lord has transformed the world through Joseph and through simple, common, obscure workers like him--like us! As Saint Paul exhorts us, "Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being. Do it for the Lord rather than for men. ... Be slaves of Christ the Lord". (Colossians 3:23-24).
Our simple lives and routine work can change the world if we have faith as did Saint Joseph. The Lord is speaking to us today: "Take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord, and work! For I am with you, says the Lord of hosts" (Haggai 2:4).
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