This sleeping St Joseph statue reminds us of St. Joseph's encounters with God in his dreams. The gospel of Matthew tells us of when God assures him to take the pregnant Mary to be his wife, to flee with Mary and Jesus from Herod to Egypt, to return to Israel after Herod's death and to settle in Galilee and avoid Judea because of the reign of Herod's son. A popular tradition is to write a prayer request and to place it under sleeping St. Joseph to "dream on" and take to the Lord. This tradition encourages us to emulate St. Joseph and to be responsive to God's will with the same prompt love and abandonment to Him. 
 
In his 2015 address in the Philippines, Pope Francis said St. Joseph responded to the dreams by immediately doing the will of God.  “Those precious moments of repose, of resting with the Lord in prayer, are moments we might wish to prolong. But like St. Joseph, once we have heard God’s voice, we must rise from our slumber; we must get up and act.”