5th Sunday of Easter – 28 April – Working for God
Why is this our Family Room activity today? This coming Wednesday, 1 May, is the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. Saint Joseph was the foster father of Jesus and the husband of Mary. He was a craftsman – a carpenter – and he taught Jesus his profession. Many countries around the world celebrate 1 May as “Labour Day”, a day to celebrate all workers, and especially those whose work involves physical labour – such as carpentry, farming, food processing, waste collection, trucking and construction work.
What does working for God mean? During his life, Saint Joseph served God through his work as a carpenter, and by caring for Mary and Jesus. Whether we are students or solicitors, teachers or truck drivers, artists or accountants…all of us can use our work as a way of serving God. Our work can be a kind of prayer! And we are also called to “work for God” in our efforts to love Him, and those around us.
What can we do as a family? You might like to watch this video together as a family to learn more about Saint Joseph’s life. And then you could have a conversation about what working for God means, and consider the small things that you can do – as children, as parents, and as a family – to work for God in your own lives, just like Saint Joseph did.
What we can all do is pray! Anything that we do for God is a kind of prayer. This week, we encourage you to use your work – your schoolwork, homework, housework or professional work – as a way of praying to God. And we have also written this prayer for our families to pray together this week.
