Righteousness or self-righteousness? That is the question! Lots of us are tempted to believe in our own moral goodness more than the promises of God.

What is a righteous person supposed to look like? We can make all kinds of guesses, some scholarly, others opinionated. The prophets might declare a soul righteous who walks in the path of justice and peace.

The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t know that.)

Some years ago my brother-in-law died suddenly at the age of 32 leaving my sister, Jane, to raise their two young boys. After the funeral I asked family and friends to write letters to the boys so that they would have a collection of stories about their dad.

A friend of mine was adopted. While her parents waited for her impending arrival, they created a book for her. Each day they added a page, either writing about how much they were looking forward to her arrival, clipping a photo from the day’s newspaper about some wondrous event, or writing out song lyrics that were popular at the time they were preparing a place for her in their home.

Joseph was a stand-up guy, a regular Joe, a by-the-book rule follower, a good Jew. But like any faithful person, he let his conscience be his final guide

When my older brother was in the fifth grade, he came home from school proudly clutching an Advent calendar he had won in a contest.

Sisters and brothers, we turn to our just and merciful Creator.

On my table I have an image of Saint Joseph sleeping. . . . So when I have a problem, a difficulty, I write a little note and I put it underneath Saint Joseph, so that he can dream about it! In other words I tell him: pray for this problem!