To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others.

The quotation frames family joy not as a mood that happens spontaneously but as a moral and practical achievement requiring ongoing self-gift. By saying that both parents and children must “become… the servant of the others,” John Paul II echoes a central Christian ethic: love is expressed through concrete acts of service, humility, and responsibility rather than mere sentiment. The line also implies reciprocity—each person has duties toward the others—so family life is pictured as a small community where authority and dependence are balanced by mutual care. In this view, lasting happiness in the home is sustained by habits of attention, sacrifice, and solidarity.