Work in the company occupies a very important place in many people's lives, both in terms of time spent and existential aspects. This work can fill a large part of the minds of those who participate in its activities-sometimes also outside working hours; it can also generate moods in one sense or another; it affects the family, both in economic terms and in personal contribution; it is a continuous source of relationships with other people-colleagues, clients, bosses; and, most importantly, work in the company affects relationships with God.
Indeed, certain approaches, attitudes and behaviors in business can lead us away from God or, on the contrary, can lead us to sanctify these realities, to bear Christian witness and to sanctify ourselves. Here we can apply some luminous words of the last Council: "Those who are engaged in often tiring work must find in these human occupations their own improvement, the means of helping their fellow citizens and of contributing to raising the level of society as a whole and of creation." (Lumen Gentium, 41).
All this leads us to affirm that those who, in various ways, work in the company need spiritual accompaniment in aspects related to this facet of their lives.
A serious approach to this spiritual accompaniment in the work of the company requires knowing, at least minimally, what companies are and how they function, as well as the most frequent moral problems that arise in them.
We will deal with all of this below, and then conclude with a set of ideas that can be useful for an adequate spiritual accompaniment of people in this area of business.
The company's raison d'être
The company has a raison d'être that gives it moral legitimacy. And this raison d'être is not "to make money", as might be claimed from a very simplistic, and perhaps somewhat cynical, view of the company. The company must make money at least to survive, and also to grow and continue to make productive investments and create jobs. But just "making money" - or in more precise terms "creating wealth" - is not enough to give moral legitimacy to the company. This is also done very effectively by the drug mafias.
The legitimacy of the enterprise, like that of any social institution, comes from its contribution to the common good. The Church, as St. John Paul II affirmed, "recognizes the positivity of the market and the company, but at the same time indicates that these must be oriented towards the common good". (Centesimus Annus, 43). In this line, he added that "the purpose of the enterprise is not simply the production of profit, but rather the very existence of the enterprise as a community of men who, in various ways, seek the satisfaction of their fundamental needs and constitute a particular group at the service of society as a whole." (cf. ibid., 35).
For his part, Pope Francis has not hesitated to speak of the vocation of the entrepreneur, adding that this vocation is the vocation of the entrepreneur. "It is a noble task, as long as it allows itself to be challenged by a broader sense of life; this allows it to truly serve the common good, with its efforts to multiply and make the goods of this world more accessible to all". (Evangelii gaudium, 203). And in his last encyclical, the present Pope, while condemning not a few corporate abuses, insisted that corporate activity "it is a noble vocation aimed at producing wealth and improving the world for everyone." (Laudato si', 129).
Businesses run with ethical and Christian criteria certainly contribute to the common good and, ultimately, improve the world in various ways: they efficiently produce truly useful goods and services; they provide decent jobs that allow for the personal development and support of workers and their families; they make possible the activity of other businesses and professionals; they create wealth that is partly passed on to society as income, taxes and perhaps donations; they innovate and generate knowledge that, in some way, contributes to the good of society as a whole; and they provide an effective channel for the fructification of savings.
