The daily reading for today in the liturgy of the Catholic Church comes from the Gospel of Luke (16:1-8). It is a story that looks at forgiveness from different points of view.
A Story That Teaches
In this story, a person in charge of assets owned by a wealthy person has squandered those assets, presumably meaning they have been spent and not invested, and there was little if any return on the expenditures. The wealthy owner learns of this and righteously declares that the steward of the assets is going to be fired. This is an example of being righteous in not forgiving someone.
The steward prepares for being fired and tossed back onto the streets by calling in the people who owe the wealthy owner some debt. When they come in, the steward works with each one to edit the note of their debt to the wealthy owner down to a lesser debt. In this way, the steward builds goodwill with each of the debtors in a way that will be helpful after getting fired — building a sort of soft landing. This is an example of forgiveness that generates goodwill.
When the wealthy owner learns of what the steward has done, the owner is impressed with the steward’s cleverness — so impressed that presumably the steward is not fired after all. I think the story conveys that the owner wanted the steward to bring and use this same demonstrated cleverness to other business dealings of the owner. This is an example of forgiveness for usefulness (or utility).
Three Views of Forgiveness
The story presents three views of forgiveness:
- Forgiveness righteously withheld or denied
- Forgiveness that generates goodwill
- Forgiveness that is useful
The story presents these three views by starting with the one that is easiest to understand and has been experienced by many people, i.e. forgiveness righteously withheld or denied. Many, most, if not all people have withheld forgiveness because they felt right and justified in doing so. This view of forgiveness was easy for the audience to understand and sympathize with.
But the story takes a turn to highlight something that most people also have experienced: forgiveness generates gratitude, goodwill, and prepares a world that has more potential for reciprocal hospitality and generosity. This is the view of forgiveness that, although may people have experienced it themselves, doesn’t get the same immediate attention and endorsement as does righteous unforgiveness. Yet, it is undeniable: forgiveness makes a better world for anyone and everything.
The owner who was smart enough to plan for terminating the steward from service, is also smart enough to see that the steward has learned a new and better way of managing assets — a way that generates the things that are in reality crucial for successful business ventures: goodwill, gratitude, hospitality, and well-timed generosity. Seeing and understanding this kind of forgiveness may have been a stretch for some audience members, but the insight is graspable.
So what?
So what’s the point of the story? I think the point of the story is that as much as a person can walk around being righteously unforgiving, they are setting themselves up to miss out on the huge benefits of forgiveness and being forgiving. Even in the most practical day-to-day business sense, being forgiving is better than being unforgiving. A wise person figures this out and applies it quickly for their own benefit, and to the benefit of others.
For Today
Think about your own plan for the day. Let’s think of it as your personal business plan. It is a plan you use to do things in order to get the things that you want. You can even make a list of what you want to get today or get closer to getting someday, and a list of the things you are going to do today in order to get those things or closer to getting those things.
Forgiveness is good for personal business: goodwill, gratitude, generosity, and hospitality. Take a look at your plan and ask yourself if you are building in forgiveness as part of your plan. Will you be forgiving when the opportunity comes up to do so? Write down your answer. Do you already know of some specific appointments, dealings, or parts of your day when you will have the opportunity to use forgiveness? Write down the answer. Also ask yourself if any unforgiveness you are holding onto from the past, even if righteously, is holding you back from what you want to get with your plan. Can you do something about that as part of your day so that you will have even more of the benefits of forgiveness in your day? Write down your plan to make that happen today.
Now you have an excellent personal business plan for your day.
Tom Delaney, O.F.S., is the speaker and facilitator for Live & Forgive presentations and workshops. He is certified in forgiveness education and group facilitation by the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University.
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