Today is the celebration of St. Joseph, which is normally found on March 19. Since yesterday was a Sunday in Lent it moves to today.
This morning, Mike and I began by saying our morning prayers together. I began with a prayer asking for St. Joseph's intercession with his dear son, Jesus.
We really love St. Joseph because it was through his intercession that Mike came to me in the first place. I had been asking Jesus to send me my own St. Joseph to be my protector and spouse as well as the father of my children. My prayers were obviously answered to the affirmative.
St. Joseph is really a great man. Humble, strong, willing to do God's Will, indeed, all those qualities men should strive to possess. Most men today lack certain qualities that make them able to lead their families. A man who is selfish, for instance, will have an incredibly difficult time putting the needs of his family before his own desires. To that man I advise him to begin praying. Most men who are selfish do not pray. Most men who are into sinful past-times are not praying. One doesn't look at porn and pray daily. Nor does one spend enormous amounts of time away from his family while he pursues his hobbies...and still has "time" to pray.
The selfish man puts himself first, work second, his family third and God fourth. This is so because his desires take first place. His work must come second to afford his lifestyle. His family, then, comes third to enhance his sense of well-being...and then God comes as an after-thought.

The way to be living in God's Will is to put God FIRST. What does God want? What does God desire for me? How can I please God? One must strive to know God and be on good terms with Him, in order to find out what God is wanting...Do you tell strangers YOUR innermost thoughts?
God only wants what is best for us and He is happy to show us, when we become His special friends through prayer. St. Joseph put God first at all times. Did we imagine it was easy to take a woman, pregnant by Another, into his home and act as if the child was his own biological child? He did it anyway because he knew God, and therefore was privy to God's Will. Was it pleasant to be uprooted and have to move to a foreign country with a foreign language, in order protect Jesus from King Herod? Was that even a normal circumstance? Imagine the humble carpenter, St. Joseph, telling his friends, "Umm,, yeah, I gotta go to umm Egypt. My son is being hunted down by the King."
"Really? Gee guy, that's tough! Why in the hell would the King be after a carpenter's baby son?!" inquired a skeptical friend.
"It's a long story."
St. Joseph did what God asked of him. I do not think it is very much to ask that today's men do the same. No one is asking that you take on a pregnant woman, marry her, adopt her baby, live with her and for her but never touching her sexually, leave all you have, flee your country and learn a new language on the lam. Then when it is safe to return, build your business back up, raise the boy...and die before He is thirty. If you get part of this cross, consider yourself doubly blessed. Most men are called to marriage. God asks that you support your family, love and cherish your wife, live chastely toegether in congugal love, accept children willingly and raise them Catholic, educate them, lead your family, protect them and be responsible for them that they attain Heaven. To do this requires prayer, a commitment to God's Will, humily, strength and avoidance of all mortal sin. Out goes the selfishness, out goes the inordinate anger, out goes the lust/birth control/porn/some TV shows/fantisizing/self-abuse/bars/internet, out goes the hobbies which interfere with family life, out goes drinking excessively, out goes anything and everything that leads you away from God's Will and destroys your manhood.

I am really blessed to have my husband. He has thrown out all these things...and some of them never were a problem for him, thank God. It is not easy to give up selfishness, but it makes one more satisfied with what and whom he has at home. Following the will of God is the only way to find true peace and contentment and happiness in this life and in the next.

St. Joseph, please be our model of manhood in our home. Help our man and boys to imitate your steadfast desire to please Almighty God. Please interceed on our behalf with your dear Son, Jesus and your beautiful wife Mary, our Heavenly Mother. Please ask the Father to bless us in all our needs and desires, if they be compatible with His Holy Will. Amen.