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St Joseph the Worker-1st May

St Joseph the Worker Feast Day is celebrated on 1st May each year. The title, St Joseph the Worker, was given to St Joseph, the patron of carpenters, builders and all workers by Pope Pius XII in 1955.

The 1st May also coincides in many countries with the working holiday weekend to celebrate the ‘unofficial’ start of summertime, the ‘May Day’ Bank Holiday festivities in the UK as they are known.
St Joseph is also patron saint of the universal Church of Christ on earth, the dying, marriages, fatherhood, families, house sales and finances. He is also an excellent example of humility and obedience to the calling of God in his life.
However, it is St Joseph’s patronage of workers that is one of his most illustrious titles, warranting a special feast day in his honour.
St Joseph was himself a humble carpenter who knew what it was to work hard, often for meagre pay, in order to earn a living to support his wife and Jesus, his foster child. Though a hard worker, St Joseph knew and embraced poverty and when presenting gifts at Jesus’ presentation in the Temple, it was the gift of the poor that St Joseph presented to God, ‘a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons’ (Lk 2:24).
In these times of recession with unemployment rising high we ask for Joseph’s intercession and help from Heaven to help us in our work or indeed to find good, productive work which will improve the society in which we live and give us a spirit of peace and joy.
Pope Pius wrote a prayer especially for this great Feast;
“Oh glorious St Joseph, model of all who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work in the spirit of penance in expiation of my many sins; to work conscientiously by placing love of duty above my inclinations; to gratefully and joyously deem it an honor to employ and to develop by labor the gifts I have received from God, to work methodically, peacefully and in moderation and patience, without ever shrinking from it through weariness or difficulty to work; above all, with purity of intention and unselfishness, having unceasingly before my eyes death and the account I have to render of time lost, talents unused, good not done, and vain complacency in success, so harmful to the work of God. All for Jesus, all for Mary, all to imitate you, O Patriarch St Joseph! This shall be my motto for life and eternity. Amen”

For a great novena prayer to St Joseph (asking for help with work) go to EWTN’s website now!

what is hell
A carpenter’s lathe!

 

 

Saint Joseph-Foster Father of Jesus

nativitySt Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster father of Jesus, worked as a humble carpenter by trade. He was a very devout and ‘righteous’ man. His primary feast day in the Church is celebrated on March 19th. On May 1st each year there is also the great Feast of St Joseph the worker as he was a highly skilled carpenter by trade teaching Jesus himself and is patron of workers everywhere.

St Teresa of Avila was a great advocate of praying to St Joseph and she said that he frequently obtained for her from His Divine Son, Jesus, far greater favours than she had originally asked for. She urged everyone to pray to St Joseph in their necessities saying that she could not remember asking St Joseph for anything that he refused to her.

Here is a short prayer composed by St Clement Hofbauer to ask for St. Joseph’s intercession;

“St Joseph, my loving father, I place myself and (…) under your protection. Look on me as your child and keep me from all sin. I take refuge in your arms, so that you may lead me in the path of virtue and assist me in the following (problem) and at the hour of my death. Amen”

St Joseph the Wonder Worker of the Church

With St Joseph the Wonder Worker, his influence with his Son in Heaven is not limited to a few things, St Joseph is the Patron Saint of many things, in fact St Joseph has many roles in the Church and is the Protector of Holy Mother Church on earth, just as he protected the Christ child whilst on earth.
 
Among St Joseph’s many ‘roles’ in Heaven, to intercede for us and help us here on earth, St Joseph is patron saint of carpenters, workers, builders, fathers, foster fathers, marriages, families, social justice, of buying and selling houses, finding good marriage partners and also he is patron of the whole universal Church on earth, all churches, convents and monasteries. 
It is quite a task but he is well equipped with all the graces of God at his disposal. He has friends in high places and particuarly with one no higher than our one mediator with the Father, Jesus Christ.
From Mary’s hands come all the graces we need as God uses Mary as the channel to bring his grace to earth just as God used Mary to bring to earth His Word made flesh.  St Joseph was married to Mary as her most chaste spouse. St Joseph has the ‘ear’ of God, let us pray to him for all our needs-spritual and temporal.
St Joseph please pray for us-protect us now and always. Amen!
Further, many commentators on the life of perfection have remarked that to have a solid devotion to the great St Joseph is a ‘good’ sign that one is on the way to Heaven. The two devotions to both St Joseph and Mary are a powerhouse of devotion for good and grace in our lives. 
I strongly advise praying the St Joseph miracle prayer (as a novena for nine days if you have a special intention) and try for yourself his powerful intercession and help. 
I am sure St Joseph loves to hear God’s children pray to him for help as we are all God’s ‘adopted sons’ in Christ, his foster son. St Joseph’s great obedience to God’s will whilst on earth has made him such a great saint in Heaven. For more information on St Joseph’s obedience of faith to the Divine will go to the following article.