If the Family of Nazareth is an example and model for human families, in the order of salvation and holiness, so too, by analogy, is Jesus' work at the side of Joseph the carpenter. In our own day, the Church has emphasised this by instituting the liturgical memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker on 1st May.
Human work, and especially manual labour, receive special prominence in the Gospel. Along with the humanity of the Son of God, work too has been taken up in the mystery of the Incarnation, and has also been redeemed in a special way. At the workbench where he plied his trade together with Jesus, Joseph brought human work closer to the mystery of the Redemption.
In the human growth of Jesus "in wisdom, age and grace", the virtue of industriousness played a notable role, since "work is a human good" which transforms nature" and makes man "in a sense, more human".
The importance of work in human life demands that its meaning be known and assimilated in order to "help all people to come closer to God, the Creator and Redeemer, to participate in his salvific plan for man and the world, and to deepen… friendship with Christ in their lives, by accepting, through faith, a living participation in his threefold mission as Priest, Prophet, and King".
What is crucially important here is the sanctification of daily life, a sanctification which each person must acquire according to his or her own state, and one which can be promoted according to a model accessible to all people: "Saint Joseph is the model of those humble ones that Christianity raises up to great destinies…he is the proof that in order to be a good and genuine follower of Christ, there is no need of great things – it is enough to have the common, simple, and human virtues, but they need to be true and authentic.
– Saint John Paul II
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