Of late, Pope Francis has used very strong language to chastise the mafia.

Members of those “families” apparently think that, as long as they look pious with rosaries and crucifixes, attend Mass and have their kids baptized, their business dealings are, well, just business. They seem blind to the fact that the violence, theft and shattered lives will count against them — and not only in a court of law.

We may wonder how they can fool themselves to such great depths about such obvious sins.

But we all are vulnerable to an off-plumb view of what-is-sin when work is involved.

Perhaps a great many people believe that they are good with God even as they commit or condone immoral practices in the name of business. Acts like artificially inflating prices, destroying legitimate competition, spreading false rumors to harm others’ successes all might be seen as good business practices by some. Company owners might take the same stance when their business, for example, ignores regulations that were put in place to protect the environment, property owners, and/or the public.

There are scars of many kinds being left in the wake of businesses large and small, local and national and international. God sees all the damage. He also knows everyone’s part in it — from the owners to the stockholders, from the directors to the workers carrying out their directives, from the regulators to the lawmakers.

Company sins are fairly blatant. Less visible are the sins that people do as individual workers.

I once knew a vice-president who was highly esteemed by his colleagues because he did not fall in line with their CEO’s philandering habits during business trips. Until he came along, the others thought they had to emulate the top dog or run the risk of losing his favor. To their chagrin, they discovered the CEO admired that vice-president more than them.

Leaders are not the only ones who lie to themselves about sin. For non-titled workers there can be an “I’m just a cog in the wheel” mentality that can lead to the lie that we are absolved from our action or inaction as long as we are doing it at work.

At all levels of employment, there’s the obvious sin of theft, whether or not it is of a volume that would make headlines. Plenty of us have experienced that temptation, especially if it is so prevalent it has become part of a corporate culture. The airline baggage handlers who profited for decades from luggage items is a quintessential example.  But just because others do it, doesn’t mean it is okay for us to follow along.

We also may be tempted toward hidden kinds of work theft.  We probably don’t pad our timesheets or expense reports, but do we comprehend that we steal from our employers if we don’t do the work we are paid to do? Such behavior is so common that sitcoms and comic strips alike often feature such “workers.” And, yet again, some systems support slackers — but that doesn’t make laziness okay. It is sobering to consider the possible consequences, known and unknown — all of which are seen by God.

For example, what about conscientious managers who end up with ulcers because they are not allowed to fire persons whose behavior drains the energy out of a team, jeopardizes co-workers’ safety, or derails customer service? Will God hold those destructive employees and the creators and supporters of such systems accountable also for those good employees’ invisible injuries?

We may realize that it is a sin for employers to pay a lower wage than what employees are worth — but do we acknowledge that it is also a sin when an employee takes advantage of a company or an individual by manipulating them in order to receive an overly-high salary?

I keep coming back to the Gospel passage where Jesus describes crowds of people who are shut out of the kingdom of heaven. They say, Lord, Lord, we did this and that in your name, and you should let us in! But God tells them, “I tell you, I do not know you.” And He leaves them outside.

We have to take that message seriously. We are called to do the best that we can in every circumstance — outside and inside the workplace.

God honors our every effort not to be fooled by sin.