533. May 1, St Joseph the Worker

Meditations no. 465 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The human and supernatural value of work.

God our Father, creator and ruler of the universe, in every age you call man to develop and use his gifts for the good of others. With St Joseph as our example and guide, help us to do the work you have asked and come to the rewards you have promised. The words of the opening prayer of the Mass introduce the topic of our prayer on this feast of St Joseph the Worker.

Work is part and parcel of man’s life on earth. It involves effort, weariness, exhaustion: signs of the suffering and struggle which accompany human existence and which point to the reality of sin and the need for redemption. But, in itself, work is not a penalty or a curse or a punishment: those who speak of it in that way have not understood Sacred Scripture properly.

It is time for us Christians to shout from the rooftops that work is a gift from God and that it makes no sense to classify men differently, according to their occupations, as if some jobs were nobler than others. Work, all work, bears witness to the dignity of man, to his dominion over creation. It is an opportunity to develop one’s personality. It is a bond of union with others, the way to support one’s family, a means of aiding in the improvement of the society in which we live and in the progress of all humanity.

For a Christian these horizons extend and grow wider. For work is a participation in the creative work of God. When he created man and blessed him, he said: Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living animals on the earth. And, moreover, since Christ took it into his hands, work has become for us a redeemed and redemptive reality. Not only is it the background of man’s life, it is a means and a path of holiness. It is something to be sanctified and something which sanctifies.

It is well to remember that the dignity of work is based on Love. Man’s great privilege is to be able to love and transcend what is fleeting and ephemeral. He can love other creatures, pronounce an ‘I’ and a ‘you’ which are full of meaning. And he can love God, who opens heaven’s gates to us, makes us members of his family and allows us also to talk to him in friendship, face to face.

That is why man ought not to limit himself to material production. Work is born of love; it is a manifestation of love and is directed toward love. We see the hand of God, not only in the wonders of nature, but also in our experience of work and effort. Work thus becomes prayer and thanksgiving, because we know we are placed on earth by God, that we are loved by him and made heirs to his promises. We have been rightly told, In eating, in drinking, in all that you do, do everything for God’s glory (1 Cor 10: 31).

Our vocation leads us to sanctify ordinary work.

Like all Christians at that time, I too was happy and grateful at the Church’s decision to declare a liturgical feast in honour of St Joseph the Worker, our Father continues in one of his homilies. This feast, which ratifies the divine value of work, shows how the Church publicly echoes central truths of the Gospel which God wishes men to meditate, especially in our own time.

We have received a call from God which enables us to understand with special depth the great supernatural value of St Joseph’s life, the value of an ordinary life of work done in God’s presence and in total fulfilment of his will. Therefore all members of Opus Dei oblige themselves not to abandon their professional work - or whatever other occupation, also professional and lay, which the Directors might indicate for the Numeraries and Associates - and to do it with as much human and supernatural perfection as possible, because they are sure that man has been created ut operaretur (Gen 1: 18) - to work -and because the axis on which our vocation turns is the sanctification of ordinary work.

Members of Opus Dei do not consider some positions to be more or less important than others, in the supernatural scale, because any honest worthwhile human undertaking can become divine.

In the service of God there are no tasks of a menial nature; all are important. The supernatural value of a position depends on the spiritual dispositions of the person carrying it out and on the moral rectitude and love of God with which it is done. This is so because Christian faith and calling affect our whole existence, not just a part of it. Our relations with God necessarily demand giving ourselves, giving ourselves completely. The man of faith sees life, in all its dimensions, from a new perspective: that which is given to us by God…

Well then: I remind you once again that all is this not foreign to God’s plan. Your human vocation is a part - and an important part - of your divine vocation. That is the reason why you must strive for holiness, giving a particular character to your human personality, a style to your life; contributing at the same time to the sanctification of others, your fellow men; sanctifying your work and your environment: the profession or job that fills your day, your home and family and the country where you were born and which you love.

Without a life of intense and well-done work, it is not possible to sanctify oneself according to the spirit of Opus Dei.

With admirable simplicity an ancient document from the early Christian era shows that Christians need to work. If anyone wishes to live amongst you, let him have a job; let him work and thus feed himself. And if he has no job, make provision for him with prudence so that no lazy Christian be in your midst. If he does not want to act in this way, he is a trafficker in Christ. Be on your guard against such people.

A Christian should not be content with keeping himself busy all day long with different activities. He must sanctify everything he does. If we want to live this way, sanctifying our profession or job, we really must work well, with human and supernatural intensity. This means using our time well, dedicating whatever time may be necessary, putting to the best use the tools which God has placed in our hands. The life of St Joseph was not spent amongst miracles, but in hard and steady work. St Joseph was not one for easy solutions and little miracles, but a man of perseverance, effort and, when needed, ingenuity. The Christian knows that God works miracles, that he did them centuries ago, that he has continued doing them since, and that he still works them now, because ‘the Lord’s hand is not shortened’. But miracles are a sign of the saving power of God, not a cure for incompetence nor an easy way to dodge effort. The ‘miracle’ which God asks of you is to persevere in your Christian and divine vocation, sanctifying each day’s work: the miracle of turning the prose of each day into heroic verse by the love which you put into your ordinary work. God waits for you there. He expects you to be a responsible person, with the zeal of an apostle and the competence of a good worker.

And so, as the motto of your work, I can give you this one: If you want to be useful, serve. For, in the first place, in order to do things properly, you must know how to do them. I cannot see the integrity of a person who does not strive to attain professional skills and to carry out properly the task entrusted to his care. It’s not enough to want to do good; we must know how to do it. And, if our desire is real, it will show itself in the effort we make to use the right methods, finishing things well, achieving human perfection.

Our founder used a striking phrase to illustrate this: we have a chronic illness in Opus Dei, which is work - a contagious, incurable and progressive disease. We do not know how to have nothing to do, and the further we advance, the more industrious, the more apostolic, the holier we have to be. Hence we ask our Lord for a life full of work, full to the extent of wearing ourselves out completely in his service.

Before us we have the examples of the Blessed Virgin and St Joseph: lives of work well done, not brilliant humanly speaking, but full of redemptive effectiveness.