It irks me when people say St. Joseph wasn’t Jesus’s true father. He was and he is! Even Mary referred to him as his father, e.g., “Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.”(Lk 2:48) In their culture, Joseph was considered his father in every way, as such a father should be today. Yes, he is not the biological father of Jesus: Jesus is the eternally begotten Son of God, but Jesus has 2 fathers; for, the man who cares and provides for you, rears you, teaches you, loves and protects you is a true father to you. A man who merely plants the seed and plays no more part in a life is not a true father:

“The acceptance of responsibility for others, especially those too weak to stand alone, the solicitude for their spiritual and physical good rooted in a love devoid of selfishness: This fatherhood is the crown of manhood, the insignia of a man’s maturity.”

“All men are, by reason of their masculinity, called to be true fathers.”

Clayton C. Barbeau

Let us pray and fight to live up to our calling. Oremus pro invicem.