Gen 1:26 - 2:3 / Matthew 13:54-58
Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Joseph and specifically under the title of St. Joseph the Worker.
Hence, St. Joseph is also the patron of all working people, besides being the patron of the Church, fathers and carpenters and also of the dying.
Being a patron of all working people, we would feel a deep affiliation with St. Joseph because we spend a considerable amount of time at work.
And we could relate with him in what was told of us in the scriptures.
We are told that he took his family to Jerusalem every year for Passover, something that could not have been easy for a working man.
We know he was a carpenter, a working man, and in the gospel a skeptical question was asked about Jesus, "Is this not the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55).
He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified, he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).
There is much we wish we could know about Joseph, about where and when he was born, about how he spent his days, about when and how he died.
But Scripture has left us with one of the most important knowledge of who he was - "a righteous man" (Matthew 1:18).
May we always turn to St. Joseph for his intercession before and at the end of our work.
May we also be righteous and honest in our dealings at work and with our superiors and colleagues so that in all we do at work, we will give glory to God.