“Let Them Have Dominion”: The Great Work of St. Joseph and Men – Reflection on Genesis 1:26-2:3 and St. Joseph the Worker
The following is the translation in English of a talk I originally gave in Spanish for the meeting of a parish men’s group named Pescadores de Hombres [“Fishers of Men”] on the occasion of the Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1, 2024.
God said:
Genesis 1:26B-2:3
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
the birds of the air, and the cattle,
and over all the wild animals
and all the creatures that crawl on the ground.”
God created man in his image;
in the divine image he created him;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, saying:
“Be fertile and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it.
Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air,
and all the living things that move on the earth.”
God also said:
“See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth
and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food;
and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air,
and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground,
I give all the green plants for food.”
And so it happened.
God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.
Evening came, and morning followed–the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed.
Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing,
God rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,
because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.
Since the Church gives us the scripture reading that I just read for the Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker you may be wondering what does the creation of humanity on the sixth day of creation have to do with St. Joseph.
Also, since we are Pescadores de Hombres, a men’s group, you may also be wondering what does our reading have to do with being a man in our lives today.
At first sight the connection may not be as clear, and we may not be able to gain much for our purposes.
But there is a reason why the Church gives us this reading for this day.
And so there is a reason why I selected this reading for my talk.
Thus if I believe that if we look a little closer we will be able to see there is a lot of insight for us about the creation of humanity in Genesis and St. Joseph the Worker.
And the connection is work.
The work God gave to humanity.
The work God gave to Joseph.
The work God gives to Pescadores de Hombres.
And what it means to be a man.
“God said: let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let him have dominion.”
Image. Likeness. Dominion.
These words are royal language.
At the time that Genesis was being written and in the part of the world it was written, literature typically used these terms for kings.
The book of Genesis uses this royal language for humanity in general in describing how God created us.
This action was against the thought of that time because the thought of that time saw human beings more as slaves of the gods to serve their every whim even if our service to these gods cost us our dignity.
But these were false gods.
The true God is different with us.
It is true that God is the King.
But God is also the King of kings.
So God gave humanity power and authority from the beginning.
And this power and authority is our dominion.
And this dominion is rooted in the image of God and the blessing of God as found in our reading from Genesis.
The image of God given to humanity gives us our identity as ruler over creation.
The blessing of God given to humanity gives us our role and work to rule over creation.
However, this power and authority is not unlimited because it is bounded by the responsibility of dominion.
The responsibility of dominion is to cultivate and be productive.
Also, the responsibility of dominion is also bounded by the fact that our power and authority is a gift that we did not have on our own just as we do not have our existence or the image of that existence on our own either.
For, our dominion, our existence, and our image and likeness of God are gifts.
The scripture says: “God blessed them saying: be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.”
One of the basic tasks that God gave to humanity is to continue in existence through generation in the world.
God created humanity on the 6th day.
On days one through five God created the universe and filled it with good things.
On the 6th day God created humanity, the best of His works, and told it to fill the world with more of the best of His works through three aspects:
Be fertile.
This means to never hold back our goodness.
Multiply.
This means to create more of our goodness.
Fill.
This means to spread our goodness.
God gave humanity this command through a blessing, and it is when we become this blessing for the world we can fulfill the other basic task God gave to humanity.
God says in our reading: “Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move all the earth. God also said: see I give you every seed-bearing plant over the earth and every tree that has seed bear fruit on it to be your food.”
God gave humanity the command to use our dominion, our power and authority, to subdue and cultivate the other good things He has made in order to bring God’s ultimate dominion, into the world.
And all things are creations of God’s word because he spoke and things came to be.
So everything that exists is a word from God.
Thus, God gave humanity dominion over creation He gave us dominion over the very words of God as a gift, a responsibility, and as a mission.
And so this is the great work of man: to fill the world with the best of His works and to help the rest of his good works to be the best that they can be.
It is in this great work that man finds his identity and purpose as the image and likeness of God in the world.
St. Joseph the Worker, accomplished this great work in his day.
And so now we turn to Joseph.
Because what God told humanity to do physically for the words of God He told Joseph to do spiritually for the Word of God, Jesus Christ.
In the beginning of creation, God spoke and things were created and then given to humanity as a gift.
In the beginning of salvation, God spoke and the Word became flesh and was then given to St. Joseph as a gift.
The Lord gave man dominion over creation by the virtue of his humanity.
The Lord gave St. Joseph dominion over Jesus by the virtue of his foster-paternity.
But, St. Joseph’s dominion over Jesus was because Jesus submitted to him in becoming Joseph’s son in the world, and Jesus “was obedient to them.” (Luke 2:51)
St. Joseph was fruitful and did not withhold his goodness. He freely gave of and used his goodness to raise Jesus and protect Mary, his wife.
St. Joseph multiplied his goodness through his many good works in his obedience to God.
St. Joseph filled the world with goodness by fulfilling his fatherhood of Jesus and sending his Son out to fulfill his mission of salvation.
In relation to Jesus, St. Joseph nurtured Jesus’ humanity by teaching him how to be a man and passing on his profession to Jesus.
These actions were St. Joseph’s great work, and through this work, he found his identity and purpose as the foster-father of Jesus.
When we see the great work of humanity in the book of Genesis and the great work of St. Joseph in the story of the gospel, we see the great work of the Pescadores de Hombres.
Like Adam and Eve and St. Joseph, we have dominion in our families, careers, and spiritual lives.
We have dominion in our families by being faithful spouses and true parents. The man without dominion is the man who fails to fulfill his promises and responsibilities to his family.
We have dominion in our careers by doing our work for the glory of God. The man without dominion is the man who fails to think about God in his work but only about money.
We have dominion in our spiritual lives by coming to Mass and living the life of the Eucharist in all areas of our lives. The man without dominion is the man without God, and the man without God is not a man at all.
Pescadores!
We are the men who have dominion!
We must be fruitful and never withhold our goodness.
We must multiply our virtues and create more of the goodness God gives us in the world.
We must extend our goodness to all people.
In these actions, we find our identity and purpose as men in the world created in the image and likeness of God. With St. Joseph the Worker, these actions are our great work.
Image used under Fair Use. Credit to author. Found here