The fertility of Mary and Joseph was the result of Joseph's fidelity to the Law (he couldn't marry a pregnant woman whose baby was not his), as well as his respect toward a mystery he could not comprehend (he repudiated Mary in secret). This fertility was also the result of Mary's trust in the angel's words, and her confidence that Joseph would be made aware of the situation by the same angel. Even before his birth, Christ was both the witness and the source of a unique and exemplary faithfulness to God's word. We can perceive more intensely the price of the love that united this young couple. They would manifest, day after day, in the ordinary life they led in Nazareth, the divine charity that transfigured each movement and each look exchanged between them, as their child sat among them.

(Source: http://www.saintjosephduweb.com/La-Fidelite-de-Joseph_a68.html)

Lectio Divina: Ga 5: 22-23; 25

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law […] If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.

Meditation:

O St. Joseph, we are turning to you today as our model of faith. You welcomed God's presence into your life. You listened to God, and committed to the most unfathomable mystery, the Incarnation of His Son.

Your virgin wife conceived without human intervention; a child was born who was God; you adored and protected him. How astounding, how staggering! Without faith, this would have been an impossible mystery.

But you know that when God speaks to man, He does not deceive. Therefore, without contesting or asking questions, you went forward, happy to walk into the light, in the presence of the Lord.

With that same spirit, you bound your life to Mary's, kneeling before the divine intention, thus opening the path to the realization of the Salvation of humanity.

Now it is our turn to reach this faith, so that God may live within us, that we may be faithful to His intentions. We are sometimes weak in our Christian life. We do believe in God, in Christ, in the Church, but we often live on the margins of our faith.

In the same way that faith directed your life, so we wish that it becomes for us the light that attracts us endlessly, the guide of our daily deeds.

May we, by faith, always feel God's hand in our life's events, so that we may be able to participate in His work of justice, peace, and love!

Amen.

(Source: http://foi-et-contemplation.net/prier/joseph-2.php)

Practical action:

When I feel overtaken by my daily life, when I struggle to give a meaning to my role as a dad, when I am challenged in my position as a dad (unemployment, illness, couple or family hardship), I will rely on God in a silent prayer, as Joseph did: I remember that this mission was assigned to me by God, and I take a moment to read and meditate on the Word of his Son, our Lord.