Fatherhood is a great responsibility itself, but being the earthly father of The Father's Only Begotten Son is a tremendous responsibility. It is so great a responsibility one wonders if anyone could fulfill it. Well, The Heavenly Father prepared such a man in Joseph.

How do we express Joseph's fatherhood of Jesus? Calling Joseph Jesus' father without any qualifiers is correct, but it can be confusing and misleading to some. The most common qualifier is foster, as in foster father. However, this comes with a connotation that The Heavenly Father abandoned Jesus in some way. Surely The Heavenly Father being the most perfect of fathers and the source of all fatherhood would not do such a thing. So, we need a different qualifier.

The two that have the best arguments for them are earthly and virginal. Both have been used so far and for a certain emphasis in different circumstances. But what is the best? Well, earthly comes with two problematic ideas. Earthly fathers are thought of as birth fathers and earthly father are actually on Earth. Joseph did not have marital relations with Mary to beget Jesus, and Joseph is a saint in Heaven. Of course, the second is less problematic, but the first is enough to cause us pause.

And what about virginal? Well, it obviously does not cause one to believe Jesus was begotten by Joseph. It also does not limit Joseph's fatherhood to Earth. And why is this a big thing? Well, Joseph never stops being a father, a virginal one, even when in Heaven. So, Joseph is still a father to Jesus while being a father to us. So, our father Joseph can command his Son, Jesus, in regards to our needs. But will Jesus still obey all that Joseph asks?

Yes. Joseph never asked Jesus to do anything against The Father's will as we already learned and he would not start once he is in Heaven. If anything Joseph's commands to Jesus will be in greater accord with that of the Father. So, we have a great advocate in our father Joseph. We can trust that any prayer we make to Jesus through Joseph will be carried out if it is in accord with God's will.

Joseph, please take our prayers and heartbreaks to your Son, but only if they are in accord with the will of Our Heavenly Father. Help us to endure the heartbreaks of this earth for the greater glory of God. Amen.