The Virtues of St. Joseph

Joseph Most Faithful
Fidelity connotes steadfastness. In the vicissitudes of life, one needs steadfast love, that is, fidelity, when encountering confusion, suffering, and failure. The image of Joseph finding a place in which the Child could be born was his movement in all of life. Failure simply meant one went on in fidelity and found by failure what God had intended for the fruitfulness of His will.

Mirror of Patience
Patience is willingness to suffer. A patient is one who suffers a malady not by choice whereas a patient man is one who suffers volitionally rather than relinquish the vocation given him. Joseph was patient because of his love. He was willing to suffer anything, even the loss of Our Lady and the Divine Child by being the first to die.