Abbey-Roads2

To develop and use our gifts for the good of others. 

In 1955 Pius XII established this feast to promote the dignity of labor and workers.  On some level, the feast was instituted to counter the Communist influence throughout the world, exalted each May Day in celebration of the worker’s movement with parades and rallies, which took place each May 1st in various cities throughout the world.

This feast is greater than that however, recognizing the God given right for all men to labor for the Kingdom of God rather than mere temporal goods and success.  Earning one’s living by the work of one’s hands and sharing the fruit of one’s labor with one’s fellow man is a Christian principle, often distorted by communist ideology as well as our good old Yankee work ethic.

Men often define themselves by what they do for a living and how much they earn, absorbing themselves in the acquisition of wealth, material goods and luxuries, ignoring those oppressed by poverty, exploitation, repressive regimes, and all the other evils that work together to rob the disadvantaged from earning a living through honest labor.

Labor and leisure.

Last year the Holy Father spoke about the excessive busyness of modern man, especially in the developed countries.  It is an interesting address, and something we might ponder on this the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.  In the United States work has become a sort of idol for many.  One’s leisure time is often a time of intense activity as well, only to be interrupted with business related cell phone exchanges, blackberry intrusions, or email correspondence, thereby causing a person to always be on the job as it were, continuously connected to one’s work.  This ethic is often admired and promoted as a virtue.

The cult of busyness.

“Pope Benedict XVI recently gave an Angelus address on a topic that might seem surprising to those familiar with the legendary German work ethic. Speaking to several thousand pilgrims who had gathered outside his vacation home in August, the Bavarian-born Pope advised them to take a cue from a 12th-century Cistercian monk, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and learn to take a break.

“It is necessary to pay attention to the dangers of excessive activity,” said Benedict, who quoted St. Bernard in warning that “numerous occupations often lead to ‘hardness of heart,’ ‘they are no more than suffering for the spirit, loss of intelligence, and dispersion of grace.’”

Benedict’s advice is particularly appropriate for his American flock. Steeped as we are in Puritan pragmatism and the Protestant work ethic—not to mention the produce-and-consume cycle that drives our economy—we can easily slip into the habit of defining ourselves by our jobs. Our default first question to a stranger is almost always about work: “What do you do?” Our jobs have a preeminent place in determining not only our income level and social status but also our self-esteem and sense of significance.” - The Cult of Busyness, Colleen Carroll Campbell  

St. Joseph is the preeminent model of labor and industry for the Glory of God.  His vocation, though lofty and exalted, was distinguished by fidelity to duty in the most mundane and ordinary activities of daily life.  His days of rest and periods of leisure were not marked by inordinate recreations and pastimes full of distractions and self-indulgence - but rather in restful recollection in the presence of God in the company of Jesus and Mary.  St. Joseph teaches us that labor must be balanced, indeed sanctified, by holy leisure.

“See where these accursed occupations can lead you, if you continue to lose yourself in them — without leaving anything of yourself for yourself”. - St. Bernard of Clairvaux

(Interestingly enough, today Drudge linked to a piece on what is being called an epidemic of  sleep deprivation, widely experienced by working professionals.)