Genesis 1:26-2:3 or Col 3:14-15, 17, 23-24 / Matthew 13:54-58
Today is also called May Day. May Day has its origins in the pre-Christian era as a pagan religious festival, which had more feasting and often noisy.
May Day then became known as International Workers' Day (or Labour Day) in the 1890s, and it had the intention of honouring the working class and respecting the rights of workers.
May Day is an important official holiday in some communist countries, and the celebrations typically feature elaborate popular and military parades in these countries.
Then in 1955, the Catholic Church dedicated May 1 to "Saint Joseph The Worker". The Catholic Church considers Saint Joseph the patron saint of workers and craftsmen, besides others.
More than just wanting to honour the contributions of the working class and the rights of workers, the Church, in this feast, wants to teach about the holiness of work which contributes to creation and gives glory to God.
In the gospel, we heard that Jesus is known as "the carpenter's son". It means that Joseph was a carpenter and that Jesus would have also followed along in learning the trade.
Hence the gospel tells us, and the Church teaches us as well, that Jesus was indeed involved in the ordinary human life and had to work for a living, with all its satisfactions and drudgery.
But where once upon a time when work was seen as a curse because of sin in that "by the sweat of your brow you shall eat your bread" (Gen 3:19), the Son of God has now sanctified work and now by the work of our hands we give glory to God.
So in whatever work we are doing, in whatever profession we are in, let us put our heart into it because we must know that over and above all, it is God that we serve and work for.
And just as St. Joseph taught Jesus to work with His hands, may St. Joseph also pray for us that by the work of our hands, and through the work of our hands, God will bless the world and may we beautify the world through the work of our hands.