We should never over romanticize the Holy Family. One can only imagine how difficult it must have been for St. Joseph. Every morning he came to breakfast with the Incarnation of God and the Immaculate Conception. Imagine living with two people who literally did not sin. Talk about guilt feelings.

This family was homeless, political refugees, economically struggling, had a missing child, an early death of the father, a son who turned into an itinerary preacher. Now that's a lot no matter who the members are. This family lived with many difficulties.

But living with difficulties does not mean a family is not successful. Successful families work through their difficulties and do not allow themselves to be intimidated by that which tends to destroy them. This is no easy task.

When we look carefully at the Holy Family we find no evidence that they fell victim to hatred, despair, anger, jealousy, petty factions, or self-pity. They were a family who lived God's plan for families. They had the fundamental attitude to live God's plan for them. They all desired to be all that God wanted them to be.

In the Pastoral Constitution of the Second Vatican Council we read that the family is the domestic church (LG 11). Each family is called upon to put into its daily life, the life of the Church, i.e. the mission of being Christ to others. The Christian family proclaims aloud both the present power of the kingdom of God and the hope of the life to come (LG 35).

Every Christian home should strive to imitate the life of the Holy family. First of all, that means each person must personally pray to know and do the will of God. If we decide that we don't need to find this will, we decide that selfishness and self-preservation become paramount.

We must also remember that the family is the basic unit of any society. So goes the family, so goes the society. It is the school of all the social values. In the family we learn our basic life values and skills - obedience, a concern for others, a sense of responsibility, understanding and mutual help, a loving coordination of essentially different characters (Fernandez, Conversation with Christ 31.3).

These skills are the stuff of true life. Each family of STM needs to make a very special effort to imitate the Holy Family. We will not only be aiding our own family, but the lives of all around us. This is not the easiest of tasks, but, there is little of true value that does not take great effort. Things which come too easily are usually too good to be true. Let every family desire to be a holy family.