St. Joseph and Work as an Expression of Love

Barely a day goes by in which I don’t hear someone complain about work or express an ardent desire to vacation or to retire.

Would people be so quick to dismiss work and its value if they knew what work – and work done well – is worth?

The conjugal love that St. Joseph had for the Blessed Virgin

Very often men are accused of having just one thing on their minds.

And in today’s sensuality-saturated world, can we be blamed?

Considering speaking the way St. Joseph did

The strong and silent type.

It has revered status among the kinds of personalities that men aspire to and that women, supposedly, desire.

And why not?

The value in teaching your children your trade.

When I was a teenager, I worked in my father’s sports apparel store.

It was an interesting experience.

Although I did not consider small business my vocation, I did learn valuable lessons about, inter alia, running a business, customer service, financial accounting, and goal setting.

How well do you know those in your parish… are they family?

Today we take a break from our examination of Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Exhortation Redemptoris Custos to focus on Pope Benedict’s address to the parishioners of St. Corbinian’s parish in Rome.

It’s the little things that count!

Cleaning. Cooking. Conversing. Chastising.

Actions that, for most of us, are part of everyday family life.

If we imagine the everday family life of St. Joseph, we can picture the holy patriarch engaged in many of those and other similar tasks.

St. Joseph gave Jesus all the love and affection possible from a father’s heart. Do we do the same?

When I speak with the men I know, the conversation often travels to a point where someone mentions how “overwhelmed” they are with their obligations: work, family, and other things.

Continued reflections on St. Joseph.
Last night I attended our diocese’s Ordinandi Dinner. Each year, several clubs of Serra Canada organize and hold the dinner, which fetes those seminarians being ordained to the priesthood later that spring.

As part of the festivities, the seminarians each spend a few minutes reflecting on their vocation stories. They were humorous and profound, and they all had a common theme: family was critical in their decision to become priests of Jesus Christ.

And that had me thinking about Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Exhortation [...]

Are you ready to obey at those decisive moments?

How well do you obey?

Do you listen well and do what you are told?

As fathers – many of us a certain age – we are at a place in our lives where having to obey another person is a task seldom undertaken. We lead our homes; we run our businesses. Who among us has to obey?

In our continuing examination of Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Exhortation Redemptoris Custos, we encounter a clear example of obedience.[...]

How closely can you live the “mission statement” of St. Joseph?

We are often reminded that St. Joseph is a model for fatherhood. He is, of course, the foster father of Jesus. But how much time have we spent studying his example?

n 1989, on the 100th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical Quamquam Pluries (On Devotion to St. Joseph), Pope John Paul II released an Apostolic Exhortation Redemptoris Custos (Guardian of the Redeemer).

Over the next few weeks — and leading up to St. Joseph’s March 19th Feast Day — we will examine the Pope’s insights into a man whom we should seek to imitate in love, devotion, and service. [...]