Today is St. Joseph's Day
Saint Joseph- patron of work

By P K Joseph Dhar

The entire catholic world comprising about 1.25 billion heads celebrate the feast of St. Joseph on March 19 each year. He was the person to whom an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream who had resolved to divorce Mary as she was found with a child before they had come together, saying; ''Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins''. (Mathew 1:20-21)

It is a common belief that he was a carpenter. But the Greek word the Gospel uses is ''technee'' which may mean one possessing more technical skill than suggested by carpenter. He had the technical skill to pursue to trade that included carpentary, welding, building of houses and boats that involved other professional skills. However, from this we cannot conclude he was just a labourer. That is one aspect of the work St. Joseph undertook. He is more fittingly called the worker. Worker would mean that he undertook not only carpentary to earn a living but invested his life in doing 'Opus Dei' or the work of God.

What was the 'Opus Dei' he performed? The answer is simple. He taught Jesus Christ to read and write, to study the scriptures and to worship. He also povided a conducive atmosphere for the child to absorb the Jewish culture and ethos. It is also apparent that he taught Jesus Christ certain skills appropriate to a growing child.

Saint Joseph took his profession very seriously as his God given vocation. It was not merely to earn a living that he persued it but to render service to God. He was doing excellent service when he raised Jesus Christ, the son of God to be a complete human being. All unawareness Saint Joseph was playing the part of God the father when he taught Jesus Christ carpentary and other skills that were at the same time imbued with the divine spirit. In this regard we can say that committed loving service was the purpose of all the work he undertook. This is all the more true when his service is contextualized, for he was serving Jesus Christ, God made man, even if he were not fully aware of it.

Saint Joseph was a model teacher and a model worker. Not only this, he was an exemplary parent and head of the first family of the world. He dedication to work was a clarion call to all workers ''workers of the world unite to serve with love! You have nothing to lose except your slavey to sin and utopian delusion.''

It shall not be impertinent at this point to probe a little deeper into the nature of work. If for a greater part of His life on earth Jesus Christ was a worker engaged in hard labour alongwith His foster, parent Saint Joseph. He certainly intended to reveal an aspect of human life of utmost importance viz value of Human Labour.

We all know that God has infused in every individual a very powerful urge to work and produce something. This creativity urge prompts one to explore, prove, invent, alter, construct, to progress and to experience the joy of doing. Here we can say that man needs to work because he is created in the image of God and always works.

Our Lord Jesus Christ came to build the bridge between God's work and man's. Lord God in Christ Jesus wanted to experience human work, and He experienced it under the tutelage of Saint Joseph. As a result, Lord Jesus Christ as man and God looks at work, with much love.

Every thinking mind shall not fail to understand the stark truth that our father in Heaven does not cease working even for a fraction of a moment. If He were so the entire scheme of things shall come to griding balt. This is also made clear by Jesus Christ Himself when he said, 'My father is still working and I also am working''. (John 5: 17). He said this to his opponents who were questioning His right to work on a Sabbath Day. Jesus Christ therefore, made it clear to them, that the greatest worker in the world is God Himself who works round the clock without ceasing. This gives us an idea of work both in the cosmic and earthly dimension. God's work has a definite link, with human existence. Thus work is woven into the very texture of human existence.

If we turn to the Book of Genesis of the Holy Bible the sacred writer says that on the first six days of the earth's existence God worked and He rested on the seventh. From this account, we can safely infer that the importance of work in the life of man is immensely highlighted.

We know from the life of our Lord Jesus Christ that in His native village Nazareth people took it for granted that He was a worker alongwith His foster parent Joseph in whose trade he was an apprentice at first: ''Is not this the carpenter the son of Mary''? (Mark 6:3). It is, therefore, Jesus Christ, the worker that inspires and shows the value of work in the right perspective. He is the one who animates families from the nuclear to the global, to live a more human life through work done with the awareness of its value. Our Lord Jesus Christ would not have wasted most of His lifetime on earth to work as a carpenter if it did not have salvific value.

In a spiritual sense Jesus Christ considers every worker in the world as Co-worker with Him for saving the world. Foremost among them is Joseph whose work was sanctified by Jesus Christ even before He was conceived in Mary's womb. Saint Joseph had the further privilege of introduction Lord Jesus Christ to human work that a time came when the carpenter of Nazareth would indicate either Saint Joseph or our Lord Jesus Christ interchangeably.

My obeisance to my patron Saint who infused in my soul the spirit of committed and dedicated work.

Perspective on saving environment

By Dr Navin Chandra Joshi

The annual review of environment 2000, brought out by the world bank, states that more than 20 per cent of the total burden of the explosive rise of various diseases in the Asian region is due to environmental factors. Over half of these are just from the polluted water and lack of sanitation, apart from the atmospheric pollution. More interesting is the publication. ''The state of the Food Insecurity in the World 2000'' a report of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) as it reveals that the State of undernourished and poor in South Asia is even worse than Africa, since more than 50 per cent children under the age of five are underweight as compared to 33 per cent in Africa. Yet, the two main countries of the region viz. India and Pakistan, alone are spending more than 12 billion dollars a year on military.

So then, no wonder there is a strong complementary between the goals of economic development and improvement in environment. ''The world has reached a common global understanding of fundamental threats to the earth's ecological balance,'' said Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee recently. He has called for making the global environment facility of the United Nations as a catalyst for universal participation and innovative programme for increasing awareness and a sense of urgency to develop and pursue a sustainable development path for the benefit of current and future generations.

Vajpayee is of the view that the rich countries should face problems by laying down stringent emission norms, including limits on pollutants and by enforcing these stringent norms and limits, but the developing world should also tackle the same by putting into place an incentive structure that encourage conservation and discourage the scavanging of nature, without compromising economic development and rapid alleviation of poverty.

The Earth consists of different components which are inseparable and integral to it. The gaseous atmosphere which envelops the Earth, the hydrosphere which contains all the water bodies, and the lithosphere, the solid uppermost layer of the Earth, are the important components for sustenance of life on the Earth. Pollution and destruction of any one of these 'spheres' affects the others since they are all interrelated. Thus, preservation of the environment needs an integral and holistic approach.

The quality of physical environment has been deteriorating continuously for the last many years. The quality becomes all the more disgusting because of the rapid growth of population and the subsequent fall in living standards in developing countries, including India.

And yet, the paradox is that the number of automobiles in urban areas- their ever-increasing number has become the most serious threat while aggravating air pollution through emissions of carbondioxide, nitrous oxide and suspened particulate matter (SPM) which today in all the metropolitan cities of India are much above the accepted norms in the embient air.

Non wonder, the increasing levels of air pollution pose dangerous implications for the health an work efficiency of the citizens.

The other important consumption item for human beings is water. Rivers and other water bodies which are the major sources of drinking water, are getting increasingly polluted by industrial and urban sewage disposals, along with negligent attitudes of the people. Even in the river Ganges, enonmous quantities of untreated domestic swage is poured into it along with effluents from a number of industries. From the point of its entry into Delhi till Chambal river joins it, the Yamuna is considered a dead river because of the release of around 2000 million litres of untreated sewage daily along its 22 km stretch in Delhi. So is the fate of most of the rivers that flow through big cities, especially in all countries of the developing world.

Obviously, therefore, the need of the hour is to save our natural habitat and heritage from getting polluted.

Sustainable development needs to become the new buzz word in environment circles. But how many of us understand its real meaning? for environmentalists, sustainable development denotes a radical change in our way of living, beginning with smaller populations. As such, family planners, not farmers or scientists, hold the key to future food supplies, global environment crisis has been contributed by both the grinding and pervasive poverty in the developing nations (called 'pollution of poverty') as well as of the humanity growing under sub-human conditions. Poverty itself has now become the 'biggest polluter'. The anatomy of the gathering environmental crisis is engulfed by this stark reality.

Therefore, the need of the hour is to cry halt to the process of senseless environmental destruction, lest the environmental crisis itself should overwhelm us. Being a multi-dimensional phenomenon, the environmental crisis must be dealt with as such, the only effective remedy for halting the growing hodes of environmental refugees is 'sustainable development accompanied by environmental conservation. New environmental ethos must pervade at all levels of our decision-making as well as allocation of funds for developmental goals.

It is true that environment, whether one likes it or not affects us all. And yet, most of us know very little about the major changes affecting the environment, dramatic shifts in the world's weather patterns or the detrimental effects of urban pollution. It is difficult to say precisely which is causing more havoc on environment reckless industrialisation or deforestation. In a way , both act in collusion.

The of the environment policy in developing countries has been on controlling pollution of any type, rather than preventing it. and yet, the 'polluter pays' principle has been found to be difficult to implement as there are clusters of small industries which do not have the access to, or the capital for technical knowhow for pollution control. The initiative has, therefore, to come from the government.

In a way, much of the development in the world today is not sustainable. It is based upon the squandering of our 'biological' capital viz, soil, forests animals, plant species and air. Many of our economic, monetary and trade policies in sectors such as energy, agriculture, forestry and human development tend to induce and reinforce non-sustainable development patterns and practices. As some patterns of development have improved environmental conditions, others have only tended them sometimes irreversibly.

In the last two decades or so, most of the developing countries have witnessed a steady increase in environmental degradation and many new industrialising countries have experienced massive environmental deterioration in the wake of sudden industrialisation and explosive urbanisation. The capacity of a number of developing countries to manage their environment, so as to secure the well-being of their people, is also coming under severe stress, following the rapid population growth, its uneven distribution and inadequate socio-economic development.

In fact, human survival depends upon the life activities of thousands of species of plants, animals and micro-organisms and upon intricate physical and chemical reactions in the atmosphere, oceans, fresh water and so on.

The vastness and complexity of this interdependence have already become evident with increasing human intervention into the life-giving processes of our planet. All life is dependent on the interaction of matter and energy carried out in the earth's ecosystem. It is these interactions which we are altering even before we fully comprehend them. The peope of the world must come to understand them to preserve them and when altering them, to tackle it with care and wisdom.

There is a fundamental conflict between traditional concepts of economic growth and the preservation of environment. During the last century, uncontrolled growth in industrial production of environmentally harmful substances and products in some regions of the world has produced dangerous amounts of pollution and has been responsible for an inordinate waste of resources. At the same time, an increasing concentration of industrial activity has led to centralisation, within a few nations, of the benefits of the earth's natural resources, and the international political influence that is derived from the control of the resources.

It has become clear that a more rational distribution of industrial power is necessary if the global problems of environment and society are to be solved. Such a distribution would achieve, at the same time, a more equal appropriation of economic and political benefits among nations and individuals.

In sum, the problem is quite complex and there is no single solution. In any case, it is high time that environmental tribunals are set up in our country to implement the environmental safeguards. Surely, any viable strategy must take into account not only the physical nature of the problem but also the human factor involved. Moreover, mere legislation can neve be a solution unless it is enforced strictly. If our environment is to be saved from further degradation, there is an urgent need to remove the lacunae in the implementation of environment protection laws. Otherwise, the vast majority will continue to pay the price for the misdeeds of a recalcitrant few.

PTI Feature