We all know that May is the month of Our Lady. But did you know it begins with a special feast, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, on May 1st?

This feast was first celebrated in 1955 by Pope Pius XII to foster a more profound devotion to the church to St. Joseph and emphasize the value of human labor and the dignity of workers. It intentionally coincided with the celebration of May Day, a secular celebration of work and laborers.

The Silent Patriarch spent almost all his days working hard to provide for Jesus and Mary with his carpentry skills. So who better to teach us how to work well and give all that work to God than St. Joseph? With that in mind, here is a prayer written by Pope St. Pius X for you and your family to use to ask St. Joseph’s help to work well:

O Glorious St. Joseph, model of all those who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above my natural inclinations, to work with gratitude and joy, in a spirit of penance for the remission of my sins, considering it an honor to employ and develop by means of labor the gifts received from God, to work with order, peace, moderation and patience, without ever shrinking from weariness and difficulties, to work above all with purity of intention and detachment from self, having always death before my eyes and the account that I must render of time lost, of talents wasted, of good omitted, of vain complacency in success, so fatal to the work of God.

All for Jesus, all through Mary, all after thine example, O Patriarch, St. Joseph. Such shall be my motto in life and in death. Amen.

St. Joseph worked well and with a tremendous love for Jesus and Mary. So let’s ask for his intercession and help in our work today and in a particular way on May 1st!.

St. Joseph, our Father and Lord, intercede for us!