So, how are the ways we can honor our father, Joseph? Asking for his assistance is one way. How more can you honor a father than to ask for the help a father gives? Isn't that the point of the second part of the Our Father: give us, forgive us, lead us, and deliver us? By asking a father to do so, we are living as his children.

But Joseph has days and a whole month dedicated to him. During those, we should remember or celebrate Joseph in a special way. There is Joseph's main feast on March 19th, which is a solemnity, the highest rank a feast can be given. May 1st is the feast of St Joseph the Workman that we talked about before. And every Wednesday? Yep, those are dedicated to Joseph. On Friday's, we remember Our Lord's Passion and on Saturdays, we remember Our Lady. If you celebrate or honor Wednesdays without doing likewise for Fridays and Saturdays, that would make Joseph sad. He knows that he is behind Jesus and Mary, and so should our devotion to Joseph be. He would rather be forgotten than honored before them.

And then there is Joseph's month, March. March is normally the heart of Lent. In that, we can see Joseph's heart. Joseph's heart was, and is, dedicated to God. He was willing to take on any hardship ... for the love of God. Bearing hardships can zap us of our energy. But when we do it for the love of God, it can be invigorating. We need to keep our Lent, our sufferings, properly directed to the love of God. This is how we ought to live ... like Joseph.

Our devotions and celebrations of Joseph are only properly ordered when they are all for the love of God. Let us thank God that he gave us Joseph as a great example to do so.

Joseph, may we honor you in proper order, after God and Mary, but especially all for the love of God. Amen.