Before Work (to St Joseph the Worker)

Traditional prayer to St Joseph the Worker, instituted patron of workers by Pius XII on May 1, 1955. St Joseph, the just man who worked in silence to support the Holy Family, is the model of Christian work sanctified by prayer.

O glorious St Joseph, model of all who labor, obtain for me the grace to work in a spirit of penance, in expiation for my many sins; to work conscientiously, placing duty before my inclination; to work with gratitude and joy, regarding it an honor to employ and develop, by labor, the gifts received from God; to work with order, peace, moderation, and patience, never shrinking from weariness and difficulties.

To work, above all, with purity of intention and detachment from self, having always before my eyes death and the account I must render of time wasted, talents unused, good omitted, and vain self-complacence in success, so fatal to the work of God. All for Jesus, all through Mary, all in imitation of thee, O glorious patriarch St Joseph. This shall be my motto in life and in death. Amen.