Work. What is the significance of preparing a meal for the family, gathering the harvest, changing the oil on a car, or drafting a memo for your team? The Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker is an opportunity to reflect on the value — the supernatural value — of work, writes Father Philip Moss upon the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, May 1. Father Moss is a priest of Opus Dei, based in South Bend, Indiana. Once a month, he leads an Evening of Recollection for Men and a Morning of Recollection for Women in Ann Arbor. Details below. Father Moss continues:
Creation is God’s gift to humanity. Before the Fall, God issued his command, a loving invitation: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gn 1:28).
Christ spent the majority of his earthly existence working quietly, as one more person among his fellow men, carrying out his work of redemption. Work is our way of collaborating in the creative and redemptive work of God. It is our way of receiving the gift of creation — of life, of the world, of each other — from our Father God. We take up that little piece of world entrusted to us with our hands and hearts, we bless God, we pour our own love into it, making it beautiful and fruitful, and offer it to our Father God in worship as we contribute to the flourishing of our fellow man.
* Father Moss leads a monthly Evening of Recollection for Men and a monthly Morning of Recollection for Women at Old Saint Patrick parish in Ann Arbor. All are very welcome. For dates and times go to the parish calendar: https://stpatricka2.org/parish-calendar