“Base positions on beliefs and values, not on the desire to “win” an argument or be “proved right”

Be ready to “listen patiently and attentively to everything the other person wants to say.”…….Dialogue requires the “self-discipline” of waiting until someone is finished speaking before responding.  And, it means truly listening to what someone else is saying—not planning a comeback before the other person has even finished speaking – Pope Francis

Gospel Text: (LK 20:27-38)

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,

came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying,

“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,

If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child,

his brother must take the wife

and raise up descendants for his brother.

Now there were seven brothers;

the first married a woman but died childless.

Then the second and the third married her,

and likewise all the seven died childless.

Finally the woman also died.

Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?

For all seven had been married to her.”

Jesus said to them,

“The children of this age marry and remarry;

but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age

and to the resurrection of the dead

neither marry nor are given in marriage.

They can no longer die,

for they are like angels;

and they are the children of God

because they are the ones who will rise.

That the dead will rise

even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,

when he called out ‘Lord,’

the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;

and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,

for to him all are alive.”

Conflict is a normal part of our daily life…rivalry, competition change, differences of dogma or traditions are constant.  This was illustrated in today’s gospel reading with the differences identified between the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Conflicts between individuals, groups, states, countries can last for generations.

What Jesus does is not engage in a “me versus they” but he changes the question and puts forth another level of analysis.  What a respectful way to dissipate the conflict.  Because the question changes the emphasis changes and another view is presented.

Overall whether working with major external conflicts or internal conflicts personal or professional listen, extend your reflective time, and embrace the answers objectively.