Labor Day celebrates the blessing of work, earning a living, supporting a family and contributing to society. Work is part of the life-long adventure of self-discovery and service. Most religions of the world articulate this adventure as encounters with God. Christians may reflect today on Jesus and Joseph as carpenters and stone builders, Mary as marketing director (what wife and mother would not be promoting her husband and son’s business to all the women at the well and the men sitting at the village gates?), Peter, Andrew, James and John in their fishing enterprises, Matthew collecting taxes, Paul with his tent-making and Lidia in her purple dye industries. Add to these Mary Magdalene, Johanna and Susannah and other women supporting Jesus and the disciple’s work as itinerant preachers out of their resources (inheritance? Businesses of their own?). Clearly it takes all kinds of work to manifest God’s presence in the world and keep the faith conversation going!