How to deal with conflicts in the family?

"How to deal with conflicts in the family?" This important question accompanied us over the weekend of families that was held on December 6 - 7, 2019 in Casa Nova in Tiberias, and where we were delighted to welcome some new families who attended for the first time. Another novelty: Three young people from the Jerusalem community joined us to organize activities for the children on Friday evening and Saturday morning so that the parents could be quiet for the time of study and sharing.

On Friday evening, Father Apolinary gathered us for a Lectio Divina, where we read Sunday's gospel and meditated on it, together, in an atmosphere of prayer. Little by little, the Lectio Divina is developing in our communities, in general, and this is good news because nothing like the Word of God can feed our personal faith and tighten our bonds with one another.

Saturday morning was devoted to the question of conflicts and how to deal with them, through three lessons and two sharing times. Father Rafic opened with a brief teaching on the biblical approach to conflicts, especially in the book of Genesis: indeed, this book tells about various conflicts that arose within families: between Cain and Abel, Abraham and Lot, Abraham and his wife, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, etc. Each conflict was resolved differently, and we have a lot to learn from these stories. Then Anna, from the Jaffa community, projected a rich PowerPoint on the question "Is conflict between people necessarily something bad and should be avoided?" She explained the disadvantages of avoiding to deal with ongoing conflicts, and the benefits of conflicts from the moment we’re able to deal with them. She introduced some rules that help us to properly deal with this issue. Finally, Rivka, from the Jerusalem community, summed up the morning and provided us with a variety of quotes from the New Testament about the importance of prayer and forgiveness in order to deal with the various conflicts we face.

On Saturday afternoon we went together to Migdal and visited the new Center that was inaugurated a month ago, with the archaeological site and the modern church built close to the seashore. Many thanks to God for the wonderful weekend he gave us, and a heartfelt thank you to the Koinonia community who welcomed us with love, as always, in Casa Nova.