There is but one fatherhood, that of God the Father, the one Creator of the world, “of all that is seen and unseen.” Yet man, created in the image of God, has been granted a share in this one paternity of God (cf. Ephesians 3:15). Saint Joseph is a striking case of this, since he is a father, without fatherhood according to the flesh. He is not the biological father of Jesus, whose Father is God alone, and yet he lives his fatherhood fully and completely. To be a father means above all to be at the service of life and growth.
