This month Click To Pray proposes to you some suggestions on how to embody the heart of this challenge in daily life. In them, you will be able to find some ideas on how to manage conflict with benevolence.

• Take a step back and look at the conflict from a different perspective. Don’t rush. Let a day or two go by.
• When you feel offended, try to understand the other person’s reasons for acting.
• Before responding, identify if what you will say or do could harm the other person. Do no harm.
• Do not cut or weaken the bond with the other person, instead, improve communication.
• Trust, act with an initial interpretation of benevolence. Sometimes it’s better to be betrayed than to stop believing in people.
• Be silent, don’t speak or answer, if you feel an inner storm brewing.
• Pray for that person, even if you don’t feel like it, it’s what Jesus asks for.

Remember Jesus’ attitude before the accusers on Good Friday. We are apostles of a God defeated before his adversaries on Good Friday, and raised to life by the Father.

May we imitate Jesus whenever we try to manage conflict.

Bettina Raed
Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Argentina – Uruguay)