May 1st – The Feast of St. Joseph the Workman
This morning we kicked off our 2023 Spring On-Air Appeal, “Lord, Hear Our Prayers”, across the Station of the Cross Catholic Media Network. Today is also the feast of St. Joseph the Workman, a feast established in 1955 by the Venerable Pope Pius XII to counteract the manipulation of workers by international communism and other socialist initiatives.
St. Joseph the Workman, Pray for Us!
St. Joseph, especially under this glorious title, is the perfect saint to ask for intercession on Day One of this Appeal, as we seek the funding that we need to continue proclaiming the fullness of truth with clarity and charity, without compromise. Everyone working at the Station of the Cross says a special prayer to St. Joseph in our chapel every morning:
Glorious Saint Joseph, model of all who are devoted to toil, obtain for me the grace to toil in the spirit of penance, in order thereby to atone for my many sins; to toil conscientiously, putting devotion to duty before my own inclinations; to labor with thankfulness and joy, deeming it an honor to employ and to develop, by my labor, the gifts that I have received from Almighty God; to work with order, peace, moderation, and patience, without ever shrinking from weariness or difficulties; to work above all with a pure intention, and with detachment from ourselves, having always before my eyes the hour of death, and the accounting which I must then render of time ill-spent, of talents unemployed, of good undone, and of my empty pride in success, which is so fatal to the work of God. All for Jesus, all through Mary, all in imitation of you, O Patriarch Joseph! This shall be my motto in life and in death. Amen.
Please consider adopting this prayer in your own daily life, to invoke St. Joseph’s protection and intercession in all the labor you do, for as we recall:
…cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return. (Genesis 3:17-19)
In this fallen world, we should always be asking our heavenly intercessors, the communion of saints, for assistance in our life; and none of the saints understand our daily struggle better than St. Joseph the Workman, who labored “in the sweat of his face” like all the rest of us in order to earn his own daily bread and feed his family.
Head of the Holy Family
So many of the prayer requests we receive at the Station of the Cross involve wayward family members or financial difficulties, and surely there is no better saint to invoke for these intentions than the saint who led the Holy Family. St. Joseph was not immaculately conceived like his wife, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and he certainly wasn’t divine like his foster Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ; yet here on earth, as husband and father, he was the head of the Holy Family, in charge of protecting and providing for the Son of God and His Blessed Mother. Imagine having to work day-in and day-out, at a hard physical trade like carpentry, to keep God Himself fed! Yet St. Joseph did this all without a single complaint–possibly without even a single sin, as many wise saints like Alphonsus Liguori believed. Let us all place ourselves under the protection of this great saint, the patron of the universal Church and head of the Holy Family: St. Joseph the Workman.
Donations and Prayer Wall
If you are able to donate in any way to the Station of the Cross 2023 Spring Appeal, please do so here.
You can place any prayer request on our Prayer Wall.
May God bless you and your family.
