Sam Guzman on St. Joseph as the Essential Worker

"My grandfather was a scientist of significant accomplishment.  He invented some laundry detergents('All'), the fabric in use in most French drains - which likely surround your home - and the means by which most homes today expel radon, which seeps in from the depths of the earth, a silent demon come up from darkness that goes unnoticed for most until it kills some. He was even allowed in Russia during the Cold War to help them learn the simple system (which was, apparently, a lot simpler to invent than the fabric on a French drain). The Cold War wasn't cold enough to keep sworn enemies from saving that which a home is pregnant with.

"But no one tells stories of his inventions and accolades. We do, however, tell stories of him building homes, which he did 'on the side.' When he wasn't at work, he was building homes with his sons, my father and uncle, or planting trees, gardening, or looking for arrowheads. To this day each time my father and I install a new circuit in a breaker-box, he explains it - how it can kill me if I touch the wrong things and how it was my grandfather that taught him this. Coming from a farming family, like most of his generation, he never lost the sense that skilled labor steeped in dignity and worth doing because of its worth.

"Today, on the feast of St. Joseph the Workman, considering the title in our current context, we can draw the truth forward to our moment - St. Joseph the Essential Workman. As with the humility and excellence of Our Lady, our father St. Joseph is of a man of tool and substance - wood, specifically - not only by happenstance but also as a lesson to us. . . ."

In a recent commentary, writer Sam Guzman reflected on Saint Joseph as a model for workers.

To access Mr. Guzman's complete post, please visit:

The Catholic Gentleman: St. Joseph the Essential Worker (1 MAY 20)