Well, they may be marching up and down Red Square today, but all over the Catholic world we are celebrating the feast of St Joseph the Worker. Yes, it is probably true that today's feast was meant to distract from socialism's May day, but in reality, it brings us to reflect on work as part of the Christian life.
If we want to truly understand what work is for us as human beings we need not look at Marx, Lenin or Mao, but rather to the humble carpenter who did not need a bloody revolution to draw attention to his ideas, we see them clearly in his witness to service to his family and his God. In his work St Joseph found his dignity as a human being and as a child of God, he was not mere proletariat, but rather a living soul who helps transform the world through his labour and his vision, a vision which is given by God and one which calls for the creative cooperation of man. In reality in Marxism man becomes a cog in a system, in Christianity's view of work, as seen in St Joseph's example, man becomes an artist and a saint. That, I believe, is the difference between Marxist socialism and Christianity.
To all our workers, I wish you a happy feast day. May your patron, St Joseph watch over you.
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