Today we are celebrating the feast of the Holy Family which in many ways is one of the most important feasts of the year; it certainly is one of the most practical because we are all members of a family and the majority of people will set up a family. This feast day is also of paramount importance because we are all conscious of the challenges facing families in this rapidly changing society. This feast brings us back to the basics of Christian life. It brings us back to the basics of where true holiness lies. How many times have we stressed the importance of positive and exemplary role models and today the Church places a role model for every father in Joseph and every mother in Mary and every son or daughter in Jesus.  They may have been called a holy family but they had their problems and troubles. There is not a family without problems or challenges. We can learn from the Holy Family how to stand by each other how to love and how to support each other. Many of us remember the comedian Bob Hope; one of his favourite jokes concerned his affection for Bing Crosby. Hope said: ‘There’s nothing I wouldn’t’ do for Crosby and there’s nothing Crosby wouldn’t do for me. But that’s the trouble. We spend our lives doing nothing for each other.’ Hope’s point is a good one. We tend to take each other’s love for granted and especially the love within our own families. It’s surprising how rarely we express our affection for one another in a verbal or visible way. For example, when was the last time you told a family member, in a conversation or letter that you loved him or her. Failure to express our love verbally or visibly, especially to young people can have disastrous effects. Everyone needs to know that he or she is loved and especially young people need to know that they are loved. In his book: My Father, My Son. Dr. Lee Salk describes a moving interview with Mark Chapman the convicted slayer and Beatle John Lennon. At one point in the interview, Chapman says: ‘I don’t think I ever hugged my father. He never told me he loved me. I needed emotional love and support. I never got that.’ Chapman’s description of how he would treat a son if he had one is especially tragic, because he will probably never get out of prison and have a family of his own. He says: ‘I would hug my son and kiss him and just let him know he could trust me and come to me and I would tell him that I loved him. Dr. Salk ends his book with this advice to fathers and sons. It applies equally well to mothers and daughters. Don’t be afraid of your emotions, of telling your father or your son that you love him and that you care. Don’t be afraid to hug and kiss him. Don’t wait until the death bed to realise what you’ve missed. Today’s feast of the Holy Family challenges all of us to reflect on how we can contribute more to the well being and the spiritual mental y and physical health of our families. We are grateful to God that he has given us such great families because without them we would not have achieved what we have achieved, lets show out gratitude by helping to improve the quality of life within our own families. One of the great blessings of my pastoral experiences is the dedication and care of numerous good people towards their aged, senile y dying parents. I can assure you that you are serving God as you strive to look after your aged or sick parents. Let’s sum up the spirit of today’s feast with a prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to realise, that the most valuable treasure that you intend us to have is our family. Help us to understand, that being a good family member, whether it be father, mother or child, is not easy. We have to work at it.  And so each day, help us to love a little bit more than we think we can, help us to do a little more than we consider enough, help us to forgive a little more than we think possible. Lord Jesus if we do this, then, when this life is ended, we will approach you throne in Heaven a little bit closer than we ever dreamed we could.