"May 1st is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker," celebrated also as International Workers Day and as Labor Day in many countries; "let us pray for all workers. All of them," the pope said at the beginning of the Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

He prayed that no one would be lacking a job and "that all would be paid justly and may enjoy the dignity of work and the beauty of rest."

Prayer to St. Joseph for Employment

Dear St. Joseph, you were yourself once faced with the responsibility of providing necessities of life for Jesus and Mary. Look down with fatherly compassion upon me in my anxiety with my present inability to support my family. Please help me find gainful employment very soon, so that this great burden of concern will be lifted from my heart and that I am soon able to provide for those whom God has entrusted to my care. Help me guard against discouragement, so that I may emerge from this trial spiritually enriched and with even greater blessings from God. Amen.