Conflict and relationships

by Liana de Jesus, MMM                                      Brazil                                     04.10.2025       

Conflict is part of life. When two people live together always, they will disagree with each other. I will give some examples: in religious communities, conflicts happen because religious people are normal people, with their limits and their ways of expressing love. In families, we also have conflict and disagreement between the husband, wife and children even the preference of children in the family. Amongst us as siblings we have our differences and disagreements etc. At the parish levels the different groups want to show their best and when they are not recognized it can bring conflict of interest. I am wondering how we can address the way of living and minimize or to avoid these in our relationships in a healthy way? Conflicts are not all negative, it be positive and helps us to become mature people and to grow in learning how to respect one another.

The choices we make to live together with other people demands responsibilities from each one of us in terms of taking the initiative to be a peacemaker, which must start from me. Nobody else. it demands courage for a person to express her ways of care and to love without fear. This can be one way to face our differences and to accept that conflict is part of life and discover ways to solve it. We need to have more meaningful conversations with one another because of how we understand conflict. We have learnt it is a negative and disturbed by emotions.

We need to educate the new generations the deeper meaning of relationships among family and our differences. Without losing our values we can learn from each other. However, this is a journey that demands commitment from all of us. If I take a step towards being the best I can be in community, family, workplace, and in groups at parish we all benefit from the mutual dialogue that allows us to understand history, motivations, challenges, past and current realities. All these are part of our lives and our world.

At family level we need to do our homework to develop a future with strategies where the parents respect their children, make their decisions openly and talk about the reality of life. Together they choose values that build meaningful relationships amongst themselves. Families are the essential building blocks of communities that provide the foundation for individuals’ growth, values, and opportunities. The support and love within a family extends beyond the household to contribute to the broader community’s cohesion and prosperity for a better world.
In the local parish and community, it is a place for us to feel at home, everyone is welcome to participate and to share their talents and gifts without competition or comparison who is best. We work together in to help build a Christian community. This will bring to the environment an opportunity for our children to learn joyful and meaningful relationships and promote a better world for all of us.