Apostleship of Prayer          Saints

St. Joseph the Worker     May 1st

Joseph was the son of Jacob. In both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke we find his genealogy stretching back to David, the first great King of the Jews. The purpose of these genealogies is to reveal that Jesus belonged to the human race.

This feast was first inaugurated in response to the workers' celebration of May Day, a day sponsored by the Communists.

To keep Jesus firmly grounded in this human life, the Church has always portrayed him as a carpenter. Joseph would have been the one who taught Jesus the skills of carpentry. Thus Jesus would have encountered the satisfactions and also the drudgery of the life as a worker.

We, as people created in the image and likeness of God, have also to be creative with all the gifts with which we are endowed. So whether we make a church or a table we are called upon to bear fruit with our hands.

St. Teresa of Avila chose Joseph as the chief patron of her reformed Carmelite Order. In the sixth chapter of her autobiography she writes thus: "I chose the glorious St. Joseph for my patron, and I commend myself in all things singularly to his intercession. I do not remember ever to have asked of God anything by him which I did not obtain. I never knew anyone, who, by invoking him, did not advance exceedingly in virtue: for he assists in a wonderful manner all who address themselves to him."

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