Between my being a bit busy with helping with faith formation and my pain issues I haven’t posted for a while. Monday and Tuesday faith formation sessions had their last classes for the year. Plus, the church is getting ready for the white elephant sale and spring-a-rama so there was a lot going on those two days.
I celebrated my birthday on Thursday. My sister flew in from Texas and we are at our parents place now, and our other sister is coming up later today so I am having a wonderful time.
Thursday May 1 was also the feast day of St. Joseph The Worker and International Workers Day. Those two celebrations go hand-in-hand. I wonder if it was more than a coincidence that International Workers Day was chosen to be on May 1.
Pope Francis tweeted a message for those in political positions who can enact legislation which would affect employment, bringing more jobs for the unemployed.
“I ask everyone with political responsibility to remember two things: human dignity and the common good”.
During a meeting with Italian steelworkers the Pope again echoed the utmost importance of employment saying, “to reaffirm that employment is an essential reality for society, for families and for individuals. Work, in fact, directly regards the person, his/her life, freedom and happiness.”
Pope Francis continued:
“The primary value of employment is the good of the human person,” he said, because it “realizes a person,” intellectually by making demands on his or her attitudes and creative and manual abilities. Employment, then, should not be considered simply as a means for obtaining profit, but above all a purpose that affects man and his dignity. And if there is no work, this dignity is wounded!”
He said: “Anyone who is unemployed or underemployed risks, in fact, being placed on the margins of society, becoming a victim of social exclusion. Many times it happens that people out of work – I think especially of the many unemployed young people today- slip into chronic discouragement or worse, apathy.”
From Catholic Online:
Since Joseph does not appear in Jesus’ public life, at his death, or resurrection, many historians believe Joseph probably had died before Jesus entered public ministry.
Joseph is the patron of the dying because, assuming he died before Jesus’ public life, he died with Jesus and Mary close to him, the way we all would like to leave this earth.
Joseph is also patron of the universal Church, fathers, carpenters, and social justice.
We celebrate two feast days for Joseph: March 19 for Joseph the Husband of Mary and May 1 for Joseph the Worker.
Joseph was foster father to Jesus. There are many children separated from families and parents who need foster parents. Please consider contacting your local Catholic Charities or Division of Family Services about becoming a foster parent.
Here is historical background on what spurred the creation of International Workers Day — http://www.iww.org/history/library/misc/origins_of_mayday
There were protests around the globe in honor of International Workers Day. You can look here to see which countries held protests.
Filed under: Catholic, Christian, Economics, Economy, Ethics, feast day, World News Tagged: birthday, children, employment, feast day, foster parents, human dignity, International Workers Day, May 1, Pope Francis, St Joseph the Worker, workers
