As head of the Holy Family, St. Joseph’s silence speaks eloquently about the company we keep.

Who did he spend time with every day? Who did he live with, and who did he talk to and listen to? Mary and Jesus.

What a lesson he gives to fathers and what a model he provides for them as a foundation for leading their families. In fact, what a lesson it is for every member of the family, too.

Fathers today — and this goes for father figures, whether they have biological children or not, because they might have godchildren or nephews and nieces — need to spend time with Jesus and Mary every day, modeling themselves after St. Joseph. He shows the way.

There is daily Mass, if possible. There is time for reading the Bible. There is time in prayer, too.

Recently, I spoke with a great priest who is a pastor of more than one parish in his archdiocese. As we talked, I realized he had learned and is teaching a tremendous lesson from the example of St. Joseph as he heads his parish family.

First, his vocation came from an early and continuous St. Joseph-like example: He vividly remembers his dad teaching him such devotion by going down on his knees and praying, including the Rosary.

Now, this priest does the same after weekday Masses for an hour of adoration and invites those attending to join him. And the greatest percentage of them do. The same goes for Sunday Masses during Lent, when he invites the congregation to stay for the Divine Mercy Chaplet. And they do, to the tune of anywhere from 80% to 100% of Massgoers staying for the devotion.

The father, layman or priest, modeling St. Joseph by spending time every day visibly with Jesus and Mary, will, by silent example, bring his family closer to the Holy Family. At home, the domestic church will become a stronghold, a fortress, built on the most solid of foundations that nothing will shake.

By the way, if it had been around back then, surely St. Joseph would pray the Rosary. After all, wasn’t it eventually given to us by his wife? And does she not ask us to pray it daily? And doesn’t a loving husband want to please his wife in all things good, especially for their dual eternal salvation, as well as that of their children?

And didn’t St. Joseph himself live the Joyful Mysteries daily with Jesus and Mary? Time to Ite ad Joseph — Go to Joseph, as St. Teresa of Avila reminds us — and follow his lead!