The Family is at the root of all society and the Family Spirit is a special quality that feeds the Family with vigor and vitality. When that spirit is present, there is a desire to cling together in time of crisis, to sacrifice in time of need and strength to face the demands of communal living.

The spirit of a family relationship affects our entire lives and we have suffered from the lack of that spirit on the communal, parish and national level. In neighborhoods there is fear of murder and robbery. Over the fence chit-chat is non-existent for the “personal living” concept has made us disinterested in our neighbor’s welfare. We fear his burden will become ours and we are little concerned with his heartache, loneliness or suffering. The aged become merely another obstacle to surmount. Each home is only a house in which individuals live—alone together—in miniature motels. Neighbors are competitors instead of partners, suspicious instead of trustful, indifferent instead of helpful, cold instead of loving, greedy instead of generous. We no longer consider ourselves living in neighborhoods, but only as living next to “hoods.” We live in wealthy, middle class or poor sections of a city, rather than communities of people living together for mutual growth.

As the individual family lives, so lives the immediate community, the parish, the city and state, the nation and the world. A countryside is ugly or beautiful according to the tiny seeds sown in abundance. From weeds come shocking overgrowth that is neither appearing nor inspiring but from selected seeds, cared for and pruned during growth, come trees to delight the eye and fruit to nourish the body. Let us see what is lacking in our family living and its various aspects—why it is unsightly and distressing—why it has sunk to such depths in so short a time. Do the Gospels tell us what we can or cannot do? If so, let us look deeply to see if there is any solution to such a problem.