How St. Joseph reveals the true meaning of work — and exposes the emptiness of socialist ideology



Many of us in the West are familiar with May Day, and most of us would say we are opposed to it.

When asked why, we might say that it promotes communism, or that the evil regime of the Soviet Union enforced its celebration. These arguments may be perfectly reasonable, but I do not believe they are sufficient.

'There could not be a better protector to help you to let the spirit of the gospel penetrate your life.'

To understand fully why Christians ought not to celebrate May Day, we should look at what the holiday is really about: the socialist understanding of work and the worker.

Challenging May Day

In response to the growth of socialist power and influence throughout the first half of the 20th century, the Catholic Church repeatedly pushed back against the ideology, especially under the leadership of Leo XIII (1878-1903), Pius XI (1922-1939), and Pius XII (1939-1958).

In 1955, as a direct challenge to May Day, Pius XII established May 1 as the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. It's through the figure of Joseph that the Church exposes the emptiness of the socialist idea of work.

“Cursed is the earth in thy work;” God tells Adam in Genesis 3. “With labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.”

Man will always need to "labor and toil." Any hope for a work-free, earthly utopia rests on the fundamental ignorance of this basic fact. To be human is to work; it is an essential and permanent aspect of any human society.

Meaningful work

The question then becomes: What is the purpose of our work? What makes it meaningful?

According to the socialists — best exemplified by the massive labor force of the Soviet Union — the purpose of work was simply the betterment of the state. The “rights of the worker" exist only to allow each individual to contribute to the good of the collective.

For Pius XI, this negation of man's true purpose was the fundamental problem of socialism. In his 1931 encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, he admits that while communism produces the the evils of unrelenting class warfare and the total abolition of private ownership, less extreme versions of socialism cannot be as broadly condemned.

'Utterly foreign to Christian truth'

This is because some of the concerns expressed by socialists are not unfounded. The central example Pius XI points to is Western capitalism's tendency to allow the market to seize “sovereignty over society."

In contending that such sovereignty belongs “not to owners, but to the public authority,” the pope emphasizes that socialism's opposition to Western capitalism is not in itself enough to dismiss it. Instead, he cuts to the real issue — that socialism's very "concept of society itself is utterly foreign to Christian truth.”

Man is placed on earth so that he might order his life “unto the praise and glory of his creator.” Man derives happiness in this life and the next from seeking to do what is pleasing to God.

Socialism, writes Pius XI, is “wholly ignoring and indifferent to this sublime end of man.” In the socialist view, human society exists “for the sake of material advantage alone.” We can clearly see how an ideology devoid of supernatural meaning cannot possibly possess a correct understanding of work and its purpose.

When Pius XII established the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, he showed why socialism and the socialist celebration of May Day are incompatible with the Christian understanding of work.

In speaking to workers' associations, he reminded them, “Your first concern is to preserve and increase the Christian life of the worker.” This prioritization of the divine is in direct conflict with the materialist worldview of socialism.

Capitalism's excesses

Like his predecessor, Pius XII did not dismiss the concerns of socialists without due consideration. He warned against the excesses of unchecked capitalism (which could also become an oppressive system if not properly subordinated to Christian charity) and declared that the worker must be “supported and sustained in his legitimate demands and expectations.”

In highlighting these concerns and how Christianity might best address them, Pius XII reveals the utter incapacity of socialism to respect the inherent dignity of man as well as the true dignity and purpose of the worker.

Instead of seeking solace in the empty promises of socialism, Pius XII urges Christians to order their lives and work toward God. To that end, he recommends St. Joseph as a model and patron, pointing out that “there could not be a better protector to help you to let the spirit of the gospel penetrate your life.”

A tangible example

In placing workers under the patronage of St. Joseph, the pope gives them a tangible example on which to model their labor and their lives and a visible counter to the socialist idea of work as a merely material endeavor.

Today, we may no longer be threatened by the looming behemoth of the Soviet Union, but we still contend with the rise of communist China and the rampant secularization of our own workplaces. We can still look to St. Joseph as an example of “the dignity of the worker.”

It is as important now as ever to recall that our work is, above all else, in service to God. It is from this service that we draw pleasure and meaning in our work. Do not fall for the empty platitudes and vain anthems of the socialists and their May Day. We know that true solidarity and true meaning in our work and in our lives are found in joyful service to Christ our Lord.

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Exclusive video: Leftists swarm ICE headquarters whining about deportation of pro-Hamas radicals



A motley crew of leftists descended on the nation's capital on Saturday. Blaze Media national correspondent Julio Rosas was on the scene, capturing some of the less inhibited among the activists resort to their apparent default: dehumanizing rhetoric.

As part of a nationwide "Hands Off!" protest, some radicals ambled to the National Mall to express their displeasure with President Donald Trump and his popular agenda.

While uniformly anti-Trump, there was a variety of grievances expressed by the cacophonic mob even though the organizers made clear that they had three reasons for mobilization. The reasons were: to stop Trump and Elon Musk's imagined "illegal power grab"; to condemn the administration and congressional Republicans for supposedly "gutting services, raising prices, and racing towards slashing Medicaid, Social Security, and more"; and to clutch pearls about the administration's supposed pursuit of "destruction for the benefit of their billionaire allies."

Of course, numerous protesters veered off message, dusted off the slogans of yesteryear, and championed the causes of Black Lives Matter, gender ideology, and an unaccountable federal bureaucracy.

Other radicals farther afield donned keffiyehs and swarmed the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Potomac Center Plaza as part of the separate "April 5 March on Washington."

Those in this second camp, which Rosas tracked over the course of the day, protested the Trump administration's foreign policy as well as its enforcement of federal immigration law; demonized ICE agents; condemned the deportation of pro-Hamas radicals, including Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk; criticized Israel; and reaffirmed their "commitment to the liberation of Palestine."

The groups that ultimately swarmed the ICE headquarters included the Palestinian Feminist Collective, the climate alarmist group Planet Over Profit, and the local chapters of the George Soros-funded Students for Justice in Palestine — a group endorsed last year by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Gaza-based terrorist group that combines Marxist-Leninist ideology with Arab nationalism.

Outside the ICE offices, protesters demanded the release of Mahmoud Khalil and other pro-Hamas international students facing deportation.

Khalil, a Syrian-born activist leader who previously attended Columbia University, allegedly hid his former employment with a Hamas-tied UN agency when filing his green card application.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in reference to Khalil's arrest last month, "We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported."

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Activists also called for a moratorium on ICE removal operations.

Prior to raging impotently outside the ICE offices, various activists made speeches.

'There is only one solution: antifada, revolution.'

Linda Sarsour — the Palestinian-American activist whose radicalism proved too much even for the Biden administration which disavowed her — told the mob standing near an "abolish Israel" sign that "we are all adversaries to U.S. foreign policy" and that the radical mob was "the moral consistency of America."

One speaker honored Palestinian "martyrs" killed during the Hamas-Israeli war without distinguishing between civilians and terrorists.

Another tethered Palestinian activism to the broader socialist cause, indicating that capitalism is at fault.

Muna Qadan of the Palestinian Feminist Collective threatened a "new world order" and the "vengeance of the oppressed" and stated that "there is only one solution: antifada, revolution."

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