You're listening to Catholic Sprouts, the daily podcast for Catholic kids that strives to plant seeds of faith.

Welcome back, Sprouts.

Today is Thursday, December 10th, 2020.

All week we have been talking about St. Joseph.

He was a devout Jew, the husband of Mary, loving foster father of Jesus, man of prayer, and Jesus' primary teacher.

All that makes him sound pretty important, huh? Well, there's one thing I haven't mentioned yet.

In all of the Gospels, we don't have a single word that St. Joseph spoke.

Now, clearly, when he was alive, he did speak, but none of those words are recorded in the gospel. In fact, by the time Jesus leaves home and begins his public ministry,

St. Joseph isn't mentioned at all. Because of all of these things, the church often describes

the life of St. Joseph as hidden. We don't hear

St. Joseph speak in the gospel, and tradition tells us that St. Joseph died before Jesus began

his public ministry. So all of the incredible things that St. Joseph did to fulfill the will

of God, the time he spent in the workshop with Jesus, and even that

long walk to Bethlehem with Mary before the birth of Jesus, most of that is hidden from us.

So why is this important? Because most of us are asked to live hidden lives as well. Maybe you struggle

with feeling unimportant or overlooked.

Maybe you do something good or holy and get frustrated when no one notices or praises you for

what you have done. Well, first of all, don't worry. We all struggle with these things. But also,

if you feel this way, look to St. Joseph as an example.

God clearly chose St. Joseph for an important role in the salvation of the world, and yet we know

so little about him. Thanks to St. Joseph, we can see more clearly what is really important to God.

Whether or not people like us or know a lot

...