This Wednesday, April 29, is the feast of St. Catherine of Siena, an Italian mystic and patron of sacred music. She lived in the 14th century, and desired as a teen to join the Dominican Order. Because of health issues, she was not accepted into the order and instead joined a group of devout women in her hometown. Later she dedicated herself to the care of the poor and the sick.

St. Joseph has two major feasts in the Church’s calendar.  On March 19, we celebrated the Feast of St. Joseph, the Spouse of Mary, and today, May 1, we celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. This date and this feast are related to the struggles with communism and socialism, which organized major marches in Europe on what they called May Day. In the United States, the Labor Movement adopted that date for their celebrations.
    
Communism and socialism both were atheistic and sought to separate their followers from worship and God Himself. They considered religion to be the “opiate of the masses” and were contrary to their efforts to liberate workers from all forms of oppression. The Church chose that day to focus on the encyclicals and other writings of the popes of the 19th century, which addressed the rights of workers to organize and to work for better wages and work conditions.
    
St. Joseph was chosen to be the patron saint of workers and laborers because of his work as a carpenter. In him, those who labor found a friend and an ally.
Spiritually, we can ask St. Joseph to help us, no matter what work we do. We go to him for intercession when looking for employment, in seeking better income and work conditions.