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, the husband of the BV Mary and foster father to Jesus, because of the role he played in the history of our salvation. It was precisely as a worker (carpenter) that St. Joseph 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 the Gospel passage for today, we see Jesus being identified as a carpenter and 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 further from the truth. Work is God’s gift to humanity and it preceded the fall of Adam and Eve from grace. After creating Adam, God gave him charge over creation, making him a co-creator with God: “Fill the earth and subdue it,” God had told him (cf. Genesis 1:28b).
The human person’s ability to work is his/her means of contributing to the ongoing creation of the universe. The likeness and image of God after which the human person was created includes the human person's ability to work. When we work, therefore, we carry out our responsibility as co-creators with God. And as today’s opening prayer makes it clear, when we work, we contribute to our own salvation. May we, through the work of our hands, make ours the charge that was given to Adam. May we, like St. Joseph, take pride in our ability to perform manual work. Like St. Joseph, may the work of our hands become a source of salvation for our brothers and sisters.