Tuesday May 1
Introduction
To the people of Nazareth, Jesus was known as the son of a laborer, the son of the carpenter. Yes, God’s Son born in a workman’s family, and like the young people of his time, presumably helping his father in the carpentry workshop. The readings of today also present human work as a cooperation with the creative act of God: we are stewards of creation, to whom God has entrusted the work of his hands. Let us work as stewards of one another and of God’s creation.
Opening Prayer
Creative God,
when by your word
you had accomplished your creation,
you entrusted it to people
whom you had created in your image
and you said: fill the earth and subdue it.
Fill us with your Spirit, Lord,
that we may preserve the beauty and order
of your magnificent creation
and that like St Joseph
we take up the task entrusted to us
of perfecting your creation
in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Reading 1 ACTS 14:19-28
In those days, some Jews from Antioch and Iconium
arrived and won over the crowds.
They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city,
supposing that he was dead.
But when the disciples gathered around him,
he got up and entered the city.
On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
After they had proclaimed the good news to that city
and made a considerable number of disciples,
they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.
They strengthened the spirits of the disciples
and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying,
"It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships
to enter the Kingdom of God."
They appointed presbyters for them in each Church and,
with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord
in whom they had put their faith.
Then they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia.
After proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia.
From there they sailed to Antioch,
where they had been commended to the grace of God
for the work they had now accomplished.
And when they arrived, they called the Church together
and reported what God had done with them
and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
Then they spent no little time with the disciples.
Responsorial Psalm 145:10-11, 12-13AB, 21
R. (see 12) Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Making known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
R. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
or:
R. Alleluia.
May my mouth speak the praise of the LORD,
and may all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
R. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia LK 24:46, 26
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead,
and so enter into his glory.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel JN 14:27-31A
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
You heard me tell you,
'I am going away and I will come back to you.'
If you loved me,
you would rejoice that I am going to the Father;
for the Father is greater than I.
And now I have told you this before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe.
I will no longer speak much with you,
for the ruler of the world is coming.
He has no power over me,
but the world must know that I love the Father
and that I do just as the Father has commanded me."
Intercessions
As we celebrate St. Joseph today, let us being our intentions before the Lord.
– Lord, we pray you for your Church. Let it honor St Joseph, its patron, through a responsible and dedicated leadership, we pray:
– Lord, we pray you for those in public office, that they may lead their people with wisdom and justice, we pray:
– Lord, we pray you for heads of families, including single parents, that they may be dedicated to their children, we pray:
– Lord, we pray you for laborers who live by the work of their hands; may they do their work conscientiously and take pride in it, we pray:
– Lord, we pray you for ourselves. May we be people who know how to serve and to live in our presence, we pray:
– Lord, may the help of St Joseph help us all to serve you with love. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord God, here is bread,
like the bread earned by St Joseph
for the family of Nazareth.
Turn it into the bread of life,
your Son Jesus Christ.
that he may keep us going
to carry out the task you have entrusted to us.
Make us look at all work, however humble,
as ennobling us in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
St. Joseph served the Holy Family
by the work of his hands.
Whatever task you have entrusted to us,
help us to put our heart in it
and see in it a way to serve people
and to give praise and glory to your name
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
“Is this not the carpenter’s son?” Human, the son of simple parents who had to work with their hands to earn the food of every day. And Jesus with them. The creator earning his bread. May you honor and respect work, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Commentary:
On this day honoring human labor, let us hear from John Paul II (Laborem Exercens):
“THROUGH WORK man must earn his daily bread and contribute to the continual advance of science and technology and, above all, to elevating unceasingly the cultural and moral level of the society within which he lives in community with those who belong to the same family. And work means any activity by man, whether manual or intellectual, whatever its nature or circumstances; it means any human activity that can and must be recognized as work, in the midst of all the many activities of which man is capable and to which he is predisposed by his very nature, by virtue of humanity itself. Man is made to be in the visible universe an image and likeness of God himself, and he is placed in it in order to subdue the earth. From the beginning therefore he is called to work. Work is one of the characteristics that distinguish man from the rest of creatures, whose activity for sustaining their lives cannot be called work. Only man is capable of work, and only man works, at the same time by work occupying his existence on earth. Thus work bears a particular mark of man and of humanity, the mark of a person operating within a community of persons. And this mark decides its interior characteristics; in a sense it constitutes its very nature.”