[Salvation]

One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

 

<< Wednesday, May 1, 2013 >>

St. Joseph the Worker

Genesis 1:26—2:3 or
Colossians 3:14-15, 17, 23-24
View Readings

Psalm 90:2-4, 12-14, 16
Matthew 13:54-58

JESUS THE WORKER

"Be slaves of Christ the Lord." —Colossians 3:24

 

Because our work is one of the main ways we express our love for Jesus, we must be working according to His will. Ask yourselves the following questions:

1. Am I working to further the Lord's kingdom? The harvest is still great and becoming greater, but the workers are still few (Mt 9:37).
2. Would I quit my job if the Lord told me to? Matthew, James, John, Peter, and Andrew quit their jobs at Jesus' command.
3. Am I working for the right reason? Am I working for the Lord (Col 3:23) or for perishable food? (Jn 6:27)
4. Do I consider my work a way of worshipping the Lord? (see Heb 13:16)
5. Am I a witness for the risen Jesus on my job or do I give Jesus "the silent treatment?"
6. Do I keep holy the Lord's Day by not working or shopping on Sunday? (see Ex 20:8ff)
7. Is my work for Jesus worthy of persecution? (Acts 5:41)
8. Will the Lord find me working for Him when He returns? (Lk 12:43)

If Jesus isn't Lord of our work, then He's not Lord of our lives. Through the intercession of St. Joseph the Worker, turn over your work and life to Jesus.

 

Prayer: Father, may my way of working be understandable only in the light of Your risen Son.

Promise: "Where did this Man get such wisdom and miraculous powers? Isn't this the carpenter's Son?" —Mt 13:54-55

Praise: St. Joseph left his job and his customer base on three different occasions to obey the command of the Lord (see Mt 2:13, 19, 22).

[Salvation]

 

Every Child Born Is a Sign

Hope is indelibly engraved in the human heart because God our Father is life, and for eternal life and beatitude we are made.

Every child born is a sign of trust in God and man and a confirmation, at least implicit, of the hope in a future open to God’s eternity that is nourished by men and women. God has responded to this human hope, concealing Himself in time as a tiny human being.

Saint Augustine wrote: “We might have thought that your Word was far distant from union with man, if this Word had not become flesh and dwelt among us” (Conf. X, 43, 69, cited in Spe Salvi, n. 29).

Thus, let us allow ourselves to be guided by the One who in her heart and in her womb bore the Incarnate Word.

O Mary, Virgin of expectation and Mother of hope, revive the spirit of Advent in your entire Church, so that all humanity may start out anew on the journey towards Bethlehem, from which it came, and that the Sun that dawns upon us from on high will come once again to visit us (cf. Lk 1: 78), Christ our God. Amen.

Pope Benedict XVI
From his homily for the first vespers
of the first Sunday of Advent,
December 1, 2007 - St. Peter’s Basilica