For well over one hundred years 1 May, or May Day, has been celebrated as a day to honor workers and their rights. Pope Pius XII sought to offer this day a Christian dimension in establishing the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. In the image and likeness of God, the worker deserves respect and dignity; with St. Joseph as the role model of the laborer.
Way back on 15 May, 1891, Pope Leo XIII promulgated the encyclical, Rerum Novarum, which seeks to teach 'On Capital and Labor.' In the text Leo XIII points out the holiness of all men and women, and indicates the basic rights and necessities of workers and their families. Such foundational values such as a just wage, fair housing, and being treated with dignity, are some of the core truths expressed in this tome. At a time where men and women, and even children, were subjected to long hours, unsafe conditions, for very little money, Leo felt it necessary to remind employers of the human element in their workplaces.
In Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, from Vatican II, notes the dignity of Human Labor:
We believe by faith that through the homage of work offered to God man is associated with the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, whose labor with his hands at Nazareth greatly ennobled the dignity of work.
The Collect from today's Mass invites us to use our work, and our gifts, for the good of others. Moreover we ask that our work might bless the lives of others. To be sure in this day of economic difficulties and turmoil, we ask that those who are employed be blessed, and those who are unemployed retain the understanding of their worth and value.
May what God has begun in us be brought to completion.
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