On the weekend of January 10 to 12, 2025, the first “Zacchaeus” retreat was held in Spain, promoted by the association His Way at Work and aimed at entrepreneurs who consider how to put God at the center of their companies, transforming their mission and impacting the community.
A technology entrepreneur who has earned millions of euros; a man dedicated to the events business, with three employees; a university professor and entrepreneur; a young man who is still employed, but who has begun to develop his own business with his wife, a priest who has promoted a cooperative in his parish.
Receive the main news from ACI Prensa by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channels today:
Up to fifty entrepreneurs, all with different life and work situations, but united by the same concern, have dedicated 48 hours to discerning how to put God at the center of their business activity.
To do this, they have followed the evangelical story of Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus through talks, testimonies and experiences, accompanied by numerous and intense moments of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
An itinerary prepared in its foundations by the priest of the Diocese of Getafe Javier Siegrist, who has promoted other impact retreats, in collaboration with businessmen members of His Way at Work.
In the coming weeks, those who wish will consecrate their companies to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and will begin a path of business transformation that consists of “bringing the Word of God to the company, where money is normally talked about and things are separated and, If things go well for you, you live your faith personally, but in the company it is something else.”
This is what Mexican Alfonso González Arocha, president of Qualfon Corporation and co-founder of His Way at Work worldwide, explains to ACI Prensa, who has traveled to Spain to live the pioneering experience.
Welcoming the call to place God at the heart and at the top of the company’s organizational chart, where one lives “a living and joyful relationship with Christ,” is also an invitation to have “an excellent company, because if there is no company, there is no consecrated company,” González emphasizes.
Thus, the businessman who embraces this path seeks, with the help of God, to develop an “ethical company, that takes care of values, that decides important things in prayer with the Lord.”
In this way, the investor, owner or manager becomes a “God’s administrator” who also seeks excellence with his workers and with the environment in which he works.
Alfonso González has high expectations for the Zaqueo retreat. So far, the entrepreneurs who have begun the transformation of their companies with His Way At Work come from Catholic parishes in the United States and through the testimony offered by some of their associates.
González expresses great enthusiasm for the retreat, which, with the improvements that are appropriate after the first experience, will be taken to many countries: “There is only one expectation and purpose in all of this: that more entrepreneurs receive in their lives, in their hearts , the call of Christ to have him explicitly at the center of your companies.”
Their enthusiasm is not just a well-intentioned desire. He has proven it firsthand: “Having God at the center of my company helps me live my faith 24/7. I no longer have to wait to get off work to live my faith. What I experience personally and in the family I also experience at work.”
On the other hand, there are great benefits for the company. Since the company was established and revised its mission, explicitly including God“everyone is vibrating and I’m talking about the fact that we are in nine totally different countries,” including India, Canada, the Philippines and the United States.
“The managers who report to the general director are Jews, Christians, Catholics, Hindus and we all pray together, respecting each other and everyone knows that we are a consecrated company,” he adds.
Specifically, he emphasizes, “our formula is: consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with the intercession of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, the intercession of Saint Joseph and the protection of the Archangel Saint Michael.”
Another benefit of this transformation has been “recruiting the best talent in our industry” due to the new definition of their company’s mission, which includes God.
“Let Him be the one who runs the company”
One of the participants in the retreat is Juan Carlos, who founded a small business 14 years ago, where he has three employees. For him, the retreat “has been a wonderful experience, because I have realized that it is very important to have the Lord, apart from you and your family, in the company and for him to be the one who really runs the company.”
In this way, he considers that it is possible to convey to employees, clients and suppliers that “the path is not greed, nor getting money, but putting your gifts, your talents at the service of the Lord.”
Along the same lines, Rubén, who has 20 employees, shares at the end of the Zacchaeus Retreat that he takes away “the hope of being able to start a project with other companies to help us and to do good for society. Don’t just make money. “I longed to find a method that would bring me closer to that.”
For his part, Mariano, another of the participating businessmen, shares with ACI Prensa that his arrival at the retreat has been provident.
After “walking” the Emmaus retreat, he has served in them and, on at least two occasions, in one of his dynamics, a passage from the Gospel story of Zacchaeus came to him: “I have come to seek what was lost,” which interprets it as a sign from the Lord.
“I no longer know very well how to interpret it, but I am sure that something has to come out, because the Lord really speaks to you. He already knew that I was going to come, because he sent me messages before the retreat existed,” he explains.
Mariano is determined to soon consecrate his company to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: “It is very important to put the Lord at the center of your life. I have it in my marriage and my family, I just lack it in the center of my company.”
Nicholas de Cardenas
Born in 1980, I am a Spanish husband and father and journalist with more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media, specializing in sociopolitical and religious information. I have worked for more than 10 years in defense of human rights and have accreditations in Journalism and Comprehensive Communication. Since July 2022, I have been a correspondent for ACI Prensa and EWTN Noticias in Spain, covering international events of the Catholic Church.