This awesome painting is apparently still on display at the MFA in Boston (which is a great museum if you're ever nearby) . When I saw it up close a few years ago, I wrote that I noticed the painter Mercer seemed to have left clues that St. Joseph is NOT asleep....his right arm is not lying flat, his left-hand fingers don't seem to be resting, and Mercer's brush strokes above the Foster Father of Jesus suggest movement.
Yes, I know...this isn't theology and a 19th century painting isn't Scripture. But what a message: the head of the Holy Family does not rest, he is alert and on guard, ready to protect his wife and adopted son. He does not recoil in horror from his vocation. He certainly has things on his mind, and the path is undoubtedly hard. But he DOES NOT QUIT.
During Lent, and on his feast day, let us pray that all fathers and husbands follow this holy model of fidelity to our vocation. The nation - nay, world - would be a much better place.