Doing Good Quietly

Like Mary, Joseph stands out in gigantic proportions, a "plus size" in the virtue of doing good quietly.  The Scriptures record few words of Mary, none of Joseph, yet this couple is central to God's plan of salvation.  To them he entrusted his own Son, trusting that their faith, their openness to his plan, would foster his growth as a man, and the savior of all humans.  Joseph's actions, his consternation over Mary's pregnancy, his obedience to God's revealed by an angel in his dream, repeated several times in what we know, his dedication to providing a living for the three of them, and, no doubt the example he provided for Jesus, not only in teaching him his trade, but in being generously and trustingly responsive to God, show us a man of simplicity and "righteousness" that make "Joseph's Way" a template for our lives.  He was not a theologian nor a preacher, but, as perceived by his neighbors, an ordinary craftsman, and behind this "ordinariness" was his extraordinary gift of doing what needed to be done without fanfare.  He's a saint that makes sainthood accessible to us, within the reach of what each one of us can do, as we go about our ordinary daily routines. A familiar slogan over the ages has been Ite ad Joseph,  Go to Joseph...not only for favors, but for a lesson in how to be a good Christian, and ultimately, a saint.
Bro. Rene