One of the most annoying things about going to Mass in December is listening to homilies that insult St. Joseph. He was not a starry eyed ninny. He did not just load Mary on to a donkey and drift out to Bethlehem. They probably traveled in a caravan with other kinfolk from their village. It's possible, some theologians believe, that knowing that the messiah was supposed to come from Bethlehem that Mary and Joseph had even decided that they would move there permanantly.
St. Jospeh did not come to Bethlehem to beg. He wasn't running from Nazareth.
He came to pay his taxes. He was not a homeless man. Mary was not an unwed mother. I'm so sick of that kind of talk. He also, being a skilled artisan had pretty good prospects for finding a job if he and Mary had decided to stay in Bethlehem. There was a huge government project going on not too far away. Vile King Herod was building himself a tomb and needed lots of carpenters. Please, please no more hip, relevant homilies making the Holy Family stand ins for whatever cause is in vouge at the time.
