St. Joseph, the Worker

Except for the time Jesus was asleep in the boat during the storm, Jesus always seems on the go. Even after a long day of teaching, he managed to feed five thousand. Wearied by his itinerant preaching, he still had the energy to bless children.

Perhaps his work ethic came from his foster father. We don’t know much about Joseph, but “worker” is a well merited title. Beyond his labor with hammer and chisel, Joseph must have really worked at attention to God. Otherwise, would he have believed his dream to take Mary for his wife or his dream to flee into Egypt? In his humility, perhaps Joseph had to work at believing that God had actually entrusted Mary and Jesus to him—an unknown, quiet carpenter from a little town. As we go about our work today, we might ask Joseph to help us realize the work God wants us to do.