REFLECTIONS TODAY

In his apostolic letter Patris Corde, Pope Francis presents St. Joseph as a working father: “St. Joseph was a carpenter who earned an honest living to provide for his family. From him, Jesus learned the value, the dignity and the joy of what it means to eat bread that is the fruit of one’s own labor” (n 6). The Greek word tekton, which is rendered “carpenter,” has a wider meaning of “artisan” — a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. Joseph would then be working not just with wood but with other objects made of metal, stone, or granite. He might even be a “handyman,” a “jack of all trades,” called by the folks of Nazareth for anything that needed fixing. Accompanying him would be the young Jesus learning his trade, thus known to the village as “the carpenter’s son.” Pope Francis notes that St. Joseph’s work reminds us that God himself, in becoming man, did not disdain work. Let us then implore St. Joseph the Worker to help us find ways to express our firm conviction that no young person, no person at all, no family should be without work.

Gospel • Matthew 13:54-58

Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not his sisters all with us? Where did this man get all this?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house.” And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith. *Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2023,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]); Website: [http://www.stpauls.ph](http://www.stpauls.ph).*