Workers’ feast

The month of May commences with the feast of St Joseph the Worker. It was established by Pope Pius XII to emphasise the relevance of work and the presence of Christ through his Church in the working field.

Blessed John Paul II greatly accentuated the importance of work. It was he who, in his celebrated encyclical which extols human work, Laborem exercens, coined the original phrase the “Gospel of work”. By the latter, the Holy Father meant that “the basis for determining the value of human work is not primarily the kind of work being done but the fact that the one who is doing it is a person” (§ 6).

Work powerfully reflects the dignity of its maker, the human person. This explains why Pope Benedict XVI, in his encyclical Caritas in Veritate, says “that the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity” (§ 25). As from its first book, the Bible constantly stresses that the dignity of work resides in the reality that man and woman “ought to imitate God, his (and her) Creator, in working, because man (and woman) alone has the unique characteristic of likeness to God” (Laborem Exercens § 25).

Within the Christian vision work is a privileged vehicle in making visible God’s reign in our world. In his preaching about God’s Kingdom, Jesus made use of various examples taken from the world of work such as “the shepherd, the farmer, the doctor, the sower, the householder, the servant, the steward, the fisherman, the merchant, the labourer… (and the) scholars” (Laborem Exercens § 26).

Work opens us to share and develop our talents for the common good of our society. Christianly speaking, work is a vocation to concretise our belonging to Christ. Besides being a basic human right work is likewise a duty which stems from our baptismal calling of “put(ting) on Christ” (Gal 3, 27).

The Catholic Church has been a pioneer in promoting the workers’ rights which involve fair wages and social benefits, having safe working conditions, organising and forming unions, having sufficient periods for rest and vacation and having appropriate training for work.

Lord, since the quality of my work is a reflection of you to those around me, help me to carry it out faithfully, attentively and lovingly. Amen.