March 19: Feast of St. Joseph

dad-holding-infant-son-kiss-cheek

“The Church admires the simplicity and the depth of St Joseph’s faith. She admires and venerates his rectitude, his humility, his courage. How many values God entrusted to Joseph in his humble and hidden life as an artisan of Nazareth! He entrusted to him his own eternal Son, who in the house of Joseph embraced all that constitutes the truth of the Son of man. To Joseph God entrusted Mary, her virginity and her maternity–her virginal maternity. He entrusted to him the Holy Family. God entrusted to Joseph what is most holy in the whole history of creation, and that humble man, that carpenter, did not disappoint God’s trust. To the very end he showed himself faithful, thoughtful, provident, solicitous–after the model of the eternal Father Himself.” ~St. John Paul II, March 19, 1987