Father’s Day can be a tender day for many of us in the infertility community. Some mourn babies lost too soon to miscarriage or infant loss, quietly celebrating the invisibility of our fatherhood today. For others, it is a day in which we hold grief for this journey of infertility and the babies that have not come, while recognizing the spiritual fatherhood God has given us. Wherever you are today along this path of infertility, St. Joseph is here to accompany you and celebrate the gift of fatherhood in your life however that may look. 

Fatherhood for St. Joseph did not look like what he might have expected when betrothed to Mary. God asked St.Joseph to not only accept and welcome Mary and the unexpected holy conception of Jesus within her, thus becoming the foster father of Jesus. God also asked St. Joseph to radically trust and obey God’s will throughout his fatherhood and leadership of his family, from traveling to Bethlehem and allowing Jesus to be born in a humble stable, to escaping to Egypt shortly after Jesus was born and living as exiles, and even by returning to Nazareth and working as a humble carpenter. Through this surrender of his fatherhood to God, St. Joseph then became the spiritual father of all believers in Christ. 

St. Joseph gave up natural fatherhood in order to fulfill his vocation as spiritual father.  Through his spiritual fatherhood he became the most famous and revered father in the history of the human race and, in that role, became the only man to earn the title “savior of the savior of the world.” Thus, we should wonder and marvel— and be open to — what great and loving things God may have in store for us, even if we do not receive the gift of natural fatherhood.

Another title of St. Joseph is Protector of the Sacred Heart. As the head and guardian of the Holy Family, St. Joseph was called to physically protect Jesus and the Blessed Mother from harm and to provide for their needs.  On a spiritual level, he was uniquely placed, along with Our Lady, to adore, honor, and understand the love, mercy, and graces that flow from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

St. Joseph is addressed in numerous prayers as “dispenser of the treasures of the Sacred Heart.” God has given St. Joseph the mission of dispensing the many graces flowing from the Heart of Jesus. May the graces flowing from the Sacred Heart help each man to understand the ways in which God is asking him to guard, protect, serve, honor, and father those he encounters each day and those hearts God has entrusted to him, whether it be biological or adoptive children, nieces and nephews, children or teens that he mentors, the team he leads at work, and most especially his spouse. 

During this month of the Sacred Heart, let us turn to St. Joseph and ask him to dispense the graces of the Sacred Heart into our community, helping us to follow the will of God in our lives – even when we may not understand it – and allow God’s fountain of mercy and peace to be upon us to carry our crosses with courage and hope. 

Lenore and her husband Bobby were married in 2017 and are parents to two in eternity and one on earth, living in a small town in Ohio with their Australian shepherd, Augie. Lenore cantors for her parish and loves to bake, read, dance, and hike with their dog.