Daily Retreat 05/01/06

2006 May 1 Mon: Easter Weekday/ Joseph the Worker

Acts 6: 8-15/ Ps 118(119): 23-24. 26-27. 29-30/ Jn 6: 22-29. or Mt 13: 54-58

From today’s readings: "Stephen, filled with grace and power, was working great wonders and signs among the people.... Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!... Do not work for food that perishes, but for the Food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you."

Working for the Right Stuff

May 1^st is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, a day the Church directs our attention to the dignity of human labor and the need for Christian principles in the workplace as well as at home. It’s worth recalling that Jesus spent most of the years of His life in the carpentry shop, assisting Joseph and eventually taking over for him.

But that’s not to imply that His carpentry work was ever the most important thing in His life, for even from His earliest days, Jesus understood the primacy of "being about My Father’s business" (cf. Luke 2:49). And at the beginning of the Bread of Life discourse in John 6, Jesus whips up a teasing appetizer: "Do not work for food that perishes, but for the Food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you!"

Having been fed well by Jesus the previous evening, most of the crowd tracked Him down just to get another tasty mouthful, hoping for a repeat of the miraculous multiplication of loaves. But Jesus reminded the crowd that the love and labor of one’s life should be about something substantially more than cultivating physical foodstuff! So, He invites them (and us!) to work for the Food which remains unto life eternal - which He promises to give! Now there’s something to whet anyone’s appetite, something well worth working for!