St Joseph and Fatherhood

"There is no doubt that the episcopate is an office, but a bishop must resist with all his strength any tendency to become a mere official. He must never forget that he is a father. As I said earlier, Cardinal Sapieha was so greatly loved because he was a father to his priests. When I wonder who could serve as a help and a model for all those called to fatherhood--whether in the family or in the priesthood, or even more so in the episcopate--it is Saint Joseph who comes to mind. ...

"We know that Jesus addressed God with the word 'Abba'--a loving, familiar word that would have been used by children in first-century Palestine when speaking to their fathers. Most probably Jesus, like other children, used this same word when speaking to St Joseph. ...

"... For his part, Saint Joseph offered the child growing up beside him the support of a healthy masculinity, a clear understanding of human problems, and courage. ...

"For Saint Joseph, life with Jesus was a continuous discovery of his own vocation as a father. He became a son in the flesh. Isn't this, perhaps, an example of the type of fatherhood that is proposed to us, priests and bishops, as a model? Everything I did in the course of my ministry I saw as an expression of this kind of fatherhood--baptising, hearing confessions, celebrating the Eucharist, preaching , admonishing, encouraging."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, pp 137, 139-140)