CIEES, mda. Motivated by the experience of the Second Ibero-American Congress for Business in Costa Rica in November 2013, Carlos Barrio e Lipperheide, from Argentina wrote “The Business Hymn” based on our Father and Founder’s prayer in Heavenwards, (The Home Song, pp.158-161) in which he expressed what an idea of a Schoenstatt business would be.
Do you know the land so warm and dear
Which Eternal Love has built itself:
Where noble hearts beat with affection
And bear with each other in the joy of sacrifice;
Where they glow and shelter one another
And flow as one into the heart of God;
Where streams of love well forth with might
To quench the thirst of the world for love? (HEAVENWARDS, American Edition, p. 158)
I KNOW that Company…
Where one breathes the flavor of home and all feel attached and encouraged to develop their own abilities;
where improvement is fostered to make the task better and thus build a more human and efficient company;
where a culture for learning exists and in which scapegoats for committed mistakes are not sought for, but rather from an organic view, all feel as participants and responsible for the results;
where doors are open for listening and expressing needs, proposals and recommendations;
where creativity, initiative, and the desire to begin new challenges and projects are encouraged;’
where a committed and attentive vision exists for the sleeplessness and concerns of the families who work;
where solidarity and collaboration for reaching objectives rules;
where work develops from a vital inner attachment of the person with his own originality;
where an organism of attachments is experienced which leads all to feel as a part of and to seek to integrate themselves and to collaborate with the tasks;
where employees are not seen as mere forces and work goods, removable and interchangeable, but as unique and valuable beings who contribute bravely and strive to improve and progress;
where there is no room for indifference and distance between persons;
and where everyone’s contributions also form part of the company’s objectives.
Do you know the land so rich and pure,
The reflection of Eternal Beauty:
Where noble, stalwart souls
Espouse themselves to the Lamb of God;
Where bright eyes radiate warmth
And kind hands ease hurt and pain;
Where they, untainted, are always folded in prayer
To banish the power of Satan? (HEAVENWARDS, American Edition, p. 158)
I know that Company…
Which considers its talents as fruitfulness received from God, which must multiply themselves with audacity and prudence;
which seeks to produce wealth and development, caring for life and the environment; which pursues the continuous improvement of its products and services, carrying out the highest norms of quality and excellence;
where the design of the work-booths and installations are favorable to a good work climate and there is joy for the task;
which encourages transparency in the activities, radiating confidence and motivational attitudes;
where accumulating power is avoided and fear for delegating tasks does not exist and thus generating a shared growth;
where all are heard and taken into account for their contributions and mutual confidence rules relationships;
where there is always an open hand to answer personal needs;
where all feel sheltered in a comfortable and warm environment;
where there is space and a moment for sharing the events, successes and failures and sought is the discovery of creative results of the accomplished efforts;
where all try to be sincere and loyal and leave aside their masks and cliques;
and the accomplished work generates life and enthusiasm.
Do you know the land, like heaven itself,
The so ardently longed-for kingdom of freedom:
Where magnanimity and sense of the fitting
Overcome the downward pull of nature;
Where the slightest wishes of God are binding
And receive in answer a joyful decision;
Where they, in accord with love’s fundamental law,
Are always victoriously put into action? (HEAVENWARDS, American Edition, p. 159)
I know that Company…
Where labor is lived as a vocation and a road to self-education, which illuminates the ideal of life;
where people feel free and assume their own responsibility in the tasks and decisions and are promoted by their merits and efforts;
where all seek to reach the excellence of the results as a virtuous path and aspiration;
where labor leads to a sense of unity with the task, and motivates to forge and create;
where ears and attentive voices exist so that there may be healthy and warm communication among its members;
where motivation and own initiative is fostered and normative coercion is discouraged;
where it is sought to listen and to discover new open doors on the market and its tendencies and the improvement of products and services;
where all who labor with great care and responsibility are considered the main capital which deserves to be recompensed and encouraged;
which, on being ruled by the order of being, establishes a just organic equilibrium between the time dedicated to the work activity and private life;
where there is a demanding ear which understands the voices of the observations and complaints of the customers and suppliers;
where persons feel attached within themselves and united to their own mission and that of the company;
where it is sought to radiate a new model of organization, profitable and solidary, which attaches hearts, multiplies and makes grow, both in economic capital as in graces.
Do you know the land imbued with joy
Because the sun never sets there:
Where in possession of the eternal goods
All hearts abide in tranquility;
Where heart and will are continually refreshed
In the overflowing richness of God’s gifts;
Where love’s magic wand swiftly transforms
All gloom into joy? (HEAVENWARDS, American Edition, 6. 160)
I know that Company…
Where all labor with joy and seek to generate riches and abundance;
where labor is experienced as a participation of the heart in the creative activity and in the will of giving of oneself, true to God;
where a spirit of covenant rules which directs and overcomes confrontation and division;
which is flexible and open to novelties and changes in the world, navigating toward new shores and challenges;
where all are enthusiastically being able to contribute to the community products and services for their development;
who pursue that quality control is established in order to achieve more transparency and excellence;
where there exists a climate of excellence and continuous development for the company’s objective and for the person;
which respects its competitors and does not follow practices which distort the market and a healthy competition;
where persons feel accepted and co-creative and seek new horizons for forging a better and more human world;
where one’s conscience is valued and the proper mode of being as a road for working more fully and joyfully;
where achievements are shared and celebrated, motivated by new goals;
and where all are attentive to the difficulties which may arise, coming forth quickly to offer support and effort.
Do you know the land, the City of God,
Which the Lord has established for himself:
Where truthfulness governs
And truth reigns and is triumphant;
Where deeds and omissions are measured
According to the holy norms of justice; where love unites heart and mind
And our Lord and Master holds the scepter? (HEAVENWARDS, American Edition, p. 160)
I know that Company…
Which is built daily and has a clear sense of its ideal as a mission;
where values are lived and shared in all its strata; where it is sought to place in the work booths those who have the adequate abilities to fulfill the tasks;
where the direction of the objectives to be fulfilled are planned and foreseen in balance; where daily labor integrate and unites the person and his personal ideal;
where managerial decisions are transmitted and generously shared with all members;
which is aware of the importance of paying punctually and in proper forms its taxes, social and foreseeable charges;
where it is sought that salaries are just and reflect the merits of each person;
where by vocation all legal norms which rule labor relations are fulfilled;
where all somehow feel as owners and responsible participants of the obtained results;
where a climate exists which allows each person to work and express the experiences and affectations of his heart;
where it is seen to that an overload of work which drains, alienates and saddens does not exist.
Do you know the land prepared to fight,
Accustomed to victory in every battle.
Where God espouses himself with the weak
And chooses them as his instruments;
Where none build on their own strength
But all heroically trust in God;
Where out of love they are ready
To rejoicingly offer blood and life? (HEAVENWARDS, American Edition, p. 161)
I know that Company…
Which awakens magnanimity with high objectives and ideals;
where all strive to build it and improve it without fainting at difficult moments;
where there is room for individual initiatives and collective labor, in creative unity in tension;
where leadership is understood as service which uplifts, leads, frees and awakens;
which comes out of its comfort zone and dares to listen and reach out even to its own peripheries;
that without detriment of seeking greater profit, is attentive to see which actions may be undertaken to heal the needs of the community, of the marginalized, of the weak, of the forgotten and those excluded from the economic and labor system;
where there is solidarity among its members, both in tasks as in needs;
where there are rewards not only for the excellence of the tasks, but also in the values which motivate them;
where it is sought to form a new man in a new community, forging autonomous personalities with great inner self and a free and permanent disposition for decision, responsible before their own consciences and interiorly free, who separate themselves not only from a rigid slavery to forms but from an arbitrariness which does not know norms;
and where labor sanctifies persons and their families and all offer their efforts and their being as a gift of love to the holy stream of graces flowing richly from the shrine.
Original: Spanish. English translation: Carlos Cantú, Schoenstatt Family Federation, La Feria, Texas USA 02262014
