Today’s Thoughts: It is May 1st the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Before I reflect a little on today readings let me take a few moments to consider our feast today. This feast in honor of St. Joseph always takes me back to my childhood. Our parish in Port Vue, PA, was named St. Joseph. It honored St. Joseph as the Worker. Out in front of the school building (our church we in the basement of the school) was a statue of St. Joseph with the tools of the trade in his hands, carpenter’s tools, the tools of a man who worked with his hands.
It was a wonderful image for the parish as most of the people in the parish worked for the steel industry. They worked in the many steel mills that ran along the rivers of Western Pennsylvania. It was a blue-collar town, a town of families, a town of workers. The ethic of family life and working hard was a daily part of my world growing up. This is not to say that I lived in “Camelot,” that everything was perfect and life for everyone was wonderful. There were struggle, problems, heartaches and sadness along with the joys, hopes and the good times of life. But St. Joseph the Worker as the patron of the parish spoke to a simple vision of life that the people of Port Vue and many other towns tried to live out. I returned to my hometown many years later. The church building was still there and so was the statue of St. Joseph. However, like in many places it was no longer St. Joseph’s Parish; it had been merged with another parish in the area and was now called St. Mark’s. The statue was in disrepair do to years of neglect, much like my hometown which was now struggling because the steel industry was long gone. It was still a blue-collar town; it was still a town of families but also a town struggling to find hope and a vision for the future. Perhaps more than ever my hometown needed St. Joseph’s spirit. Unfortunately, as a side note to this reflection the building that was once called St. Joseph’s Church and School was closed for good in March of 2020 just as the pandemic was starting. There was to be a closing mass on Thursday March 19, 2020 but because of the Covid-19 Virus the mass was canceled. Another sad moment in the memory of my life! Today we celebrate a feast that honors the spirit of St. Joseph, a simple man who in a quiet, yet strong way, responded to God’s invitation. His skills as a worker and a father are not always honored or valued. Yet he lived on, he said “yes” to God’s invitation. He lived his life with honor, hard work and love for those around him. He was a blue-collar worker, a family man, an ordinary person who let God do extraordinary things with his life. As a Church, we sometimes let his image fall into disrepair. He becomes an afterthought in a world of glitz and glamor saints. Yet, St. Joseph will always remind us that everyone is created in the image and likeness of God which makes each of us special and important to the work of God in the world! One of my grandfathers and my uncle were gifted with the name Joseph and they were simple hard working men too and on this feast of St. Joseph I remember them and honor them in a special way. As for our readings today, “If you know me, then you also know my Father.” These are familiar words of Jesus spoken to Thomas and Philip and found in today Gospel (John 14: 7-14). They are words that remind us that our Christian faith is a very profound experience; only those who have faith come to know that God, the creator of the universe, chose to enter our life, to be part of human history and in doing so reveals a profound love to all creation. Jesus seems to be responding to the age-old question, is there a God, and if so what is this God like? Jesus’ answer is, look at me, know me, because if you see and know me then you see and know my Father. As we find earlier in John’ Gospel, “God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might bot perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16) So if we take a good look at Jesus, if we get to know Jesus then we will know God, we will know the Father, the God who so loves the world! In coming to know God it always comes down to a relationship, a relationship with Jesus, a relationship with the Father, a relationship with the Spirit. Relationships take work, relationships can be difficult and demanding, relationships demand time and investment. Yet in the end a relationship is the only way we can come to know the love, mercy, joy and faithfulness of God! Our journey through the Easter Season reminds us that the Risen Lord is always looking for us, always waiting to encounter us in our daily lives. We can be “minding our own business” but Jesus will often walk into our life and send us forth to proclaim the Good News! Have a blessed, holy, and healthy feast of St. Joseph the Worker Saturday everyone!
3 Comments
Mary E
5/1/2021 06:50:48 am
My favorite prayer..
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8/20/2021 08:01:06 pm
Thanks for sharing superb information
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Fr. Paul R. Fagan, C.P. "Preacher on the Run"Just a few thoughts to help you on your journey through life...let me know from time to time what you think... Archives
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