God blessed the seventh day and made it holy since on that day he rested after all his work of creating. Today the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. It is a feast that recognizes the role of honest work (labor) in the salvation of the universe. It is a feast dedicated to St. Joseph because of the role he played in the history of our salvation. It was precisely as a worker (carpenter) that he was able to provide a home for Jesus and his mother. St. Joseph, we believe, took pride in his profession and practiced it till the day he left this world. We also believe that he trained Jesus in his workshop as he instilled in him the importance of honest work. This might also explain why in some Gospel accounts, Jesus is identified as a carpenter or the son of a carpenter.
Work (labor) has often been seen as a punishment from God (misinterpretation of Genesis 3:17 where God pronounces Adam’s sentence). But nothing can be farther from the truth. Work is God’s gift to humanity and it preceded the fall. After creating Adam, God gave him charge over creation, making him a co-creator: “Fill the earth and subdue it,” God had told him (cf. Genesis 1:28b). Our ability to work is our means of contributing to the ongoing creation of the universe. The likeness and image of God after which man was created includes man’s ability to work. When we work, therefore, we carry out our responsibility as co-creators with God. And as the opening prayer makes it clear, when we work, we contribute to our own salvation.