The Jubilee of Entrepreneurs recognises the important role in society that entrepreneurs play and the opportunities they have to help promote a flourishing human society.
PRAYER
Lord God, we pray for those who are entrepreneurs in our world. May their eyes be open to see the needs of their clients, employees, and all they encounter in their entrepreneurial journey.
May they strive to achieve a fair distribution of the world’s resources, to protect the human family, and to take care of our common home.
May their hearts be filled with the desire to serve more than to be served, to give more than to receive, and to love unconditionally as You love us.
We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
TEACHING
From Pope Francis’ Address to French Catholic Entrepreneurs participating in the “Journey of the Common Good” in the capital (2019):
“The evangelical values that you wish to implement in the management of your businesses, as well as in the many relationships that you have within the framework of your activities, are an opportunity for genuine and indispensable Christian witness.
“The conflicts of conscience in the daily decisions you have to make are – I imagine – numerous: on the one hand, the need imposed on you – often for the survival of companies, of the people who work there and of their families – to conquer markets, increase productivity, reduce delays, resort to the artifices of advertising, increasing consumption…; and on the other hand, the increasingly urgent demands of social justice, to guarantee everyone the possibility of earning a decent living. I am thinking of working conditions, wages, job offers and their stability, as well as environmental protection. How can we live out these conflicts in serenity and hope, while Christian entrepreneurs are sometimes led to silence their convictions and ideals?”
From Pope Francis’ Message to French entrepreneurs (2023):
“Entrepreneurs suffer when their business suffers, and they suffer a great deal when the business goes bankrupt and has to close. There is little in the media about the difficulties and pain of entrepreneurs who close their businesses and fail through no fault of their own. The book of Job teaches us that misfortune is not synonymous with fault, because it also strikes the righteous, and that success is not immediately synonymous with virtue and goodness. Misfortune affects everyone, the good and the bad alike. The Church understands the suffering of the good entrepreneur, she understands your suffering. She welcomes it, she accompanies you, she thanks you. From the very beginning, the Church has also welcomed merchants, the precursors of modern entrepreneurs. In the Bible and the Gospels, there is often talk of money and trade, and some of the most beautiful stories in the history of salvation are also about economics: drachmas, talents, landowners, administrators, precious pearls. In the Gospel of Luke, the father of the prodigal son is presented to us as a rich man, perhaps a landowner. In the same way, the Good Samaritan could have been a merchant; he stopped by the wounded man, took care of him and then entrusted him to an innkeeper, paying him with two denarii.
“The good entrepreneur, like the “good shepherd” of the Gospel, unlike the “hireling”, knows his workers because he knows their work. One of the serious crises of our time is the entrepreneur’s loss of contact with the work of his company, and therefore with his workers, who become “invisible” (Pierre Y. Gomes). You became entrepreneurs because one day you were fascinated by the smell of the workshop, by the joy of touching your products with your hands, by the satisfaction of seeing that your services are useful: never forget that this is how your vocation was born. And in this you are like Joseph, like Jesus who spent part of his life working as a craftsman: “the Word became a carpenter”. He knew the aroma of wood.”
TESTIMONY
“Money is a wonderful thing. It helps us to get the basic necessities of life such as housing, food and education. It is the main modern-day means of exchange and if you look a bit deeper it ultimately is for enabling communion between people.
“For instance when you invite a person to your house for a meal, you are usually inviting them to not only have a meal but also to grow your friendship. Now that can’t take place unless you have money. Of course money can be a means of division but that’s only because we pervert it with sinful attitudes. We have to look at created things sensibly and realise that their origin comes from God. Therefore we should always thank the Creator for them and use them responsibly.
“In the classic text on money, 1 Timothy 6:10, it says that ‘The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains’. An excessive love of money is damaging. It leads to our enslavement. The Church’s teaching is that we have a right to private property; we have a right to goods including money. And the Church makes a really important distinction between the possession of something and the use of it. We have to own things as if everyone else owned them; we have to use them as if they are for everyone, with a generous spirit.”
– Fr Tony Percy, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn (From CathFamily)
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
For entrepreneurs and those who manage businesses, that they may be guided by a spirit of generosity and love of neighbour in the way they manage material goods.
We pray to the Lord.
For the Church, that it may continue to inspire and encourage entrepreneurs and business leaders to use the good they possess for the benefit of others, particularly those suffering from poverty.
We pray to the Lord.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Message of the Holy Father to French entrepreneurs – 29 August 2023
Vocation of the Business Leader: A Reflection (Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, 2018)
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