Page 52 - Reflections on St. Joseph

that their main concern is not the amount of money they can earn, but rather being able to
demonstrate that they know, how to carry out well the activity they are called to do.

In recent centuries, a separation has been created between the psychology of work and that of
faith, a separation that has had great social repercussions. And even today this keeps many men
and women away from the Christian faith. This is one of the major misunderstandings of
modern society.

Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of 'Saint Joseph the Worker' on May 1, 1955 with the intention
of helping workers to rediscover the Christian sense of work, so fully embodied in the humble
carpenter of Nazareth.

In the book of Genesis

Regarding work, the Bible provides general principles and not a systematic and thorough
study. The work is accepted and presented as an integral part of human life and placed in
the perspective of the relationship between God and man.

The book of Genesis presents God the Creator (Genesis1) as a God who works and rests: in
six days He creates the universe. The seventh day is the completion of the work of the
previous six in which God contemplates the perfection of His work and rests. The day of
rest is a day of blessing. It is the day of blessing of a God who is not idle, but He
encompasses work, that is, gift of Himself, fruitfulness. "God created man in the image of
Himself; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Gen 1:27).
"Yahweh God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of
it" (Gen 2,15). Man is the image of God and placed by God in the garden, he is entrusted
with the task of guarding and cultivating it. "Man is therefore, like his God, a being who
works and rests. Both 'work' and 'rest' fall into the image of God "(A. Bonora, Lavoro, in NDTB,
p. 778). Being the image of God, divine blessing inserts man's entire life, including work,
in the context of relationship with the Creator Himself.

In the narration of chapter three of Genesis, we read that man wants to establish the
criteria of his being and of his activity outside the context of his relationship with God
and His work of love. He follows the snake's message in the direction of a stingy and
selfish will to dominate. Therefore, we read in Gen 3,17-19, God turned to the man and
said: "Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree of which I had
forbidden you to eat, Accursed be the soil because of you! Painfully will you get your food from
it as long as you live. It will yield you brambles and thistles, as you eat the produce of the land.
By the sweat of your face will you earn your food until you return to the ground, as you were
taken from it. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return." From then on, man procured
food with fatigue, while work was contemplated in the garden of Eden, but it was not
associated with fatigue and pain.

Therefore, the first impact with work in the story of the book of Genesis is contradictory: the
work marks the fundamental nature of man, but soon it becomes punishment and curse.

28 Reflections on st. joseph