1. There is a word that characterizes today's society and is commonly referred to by the press: corruption. It looks like a bad word but it is tolerated as a disease. Society seems to have no antibodies to it.

Corruption is a reality as old as sin in men. At the beginning of his letter to the Romans, Paul describes the corruption of his time. And it do not differ substantially from that of our age (cf. Rom 1:24-32). Such corruption will also be present «in the last times» (cf. 2 Tim 3:1- 9). St. Peter will encourage to «escaping from the corruption that reigns in the world because of concupiscence» (2 Pet 1:4b).

Corruption is a sign that men have lost their dignity of persons and images of God. It is a sign that they have lost their freedom of spirit and live as slaves to their tendencies and passions. It is not master of himself anymore; is a slave of himself, «for one is a slave of whatever overcomes him» (2 Pet 2:19b).

2. Corruption is the result of a culture far from God and destructive of man (cf. Rom 1:18- 23). Its sign is violence, social insecurity, legal impunity, lack of meaning in life, lethargy of materialism, despair…

Secularist culture, closed in on itself, without spiritual transcendence, speaks of freedom creating new forms of slavery. «Modern man, in fact, cannot choose. He can vote but do not believe in politicians. He lives socially locked: he chooses what has been proposed to him as a studied consumerist lifestyle» [1]. Real life is despised and attacked. It is imposed a culture of death disguised as satisfactions, tourism and evasive communications. «Educating —will say the Pope— is more than just form people for economically productive tasks» (Addr. of 03/26/92).

3. One form of slavery is having to work without defending the dignity of the individual. Labor is no longer the realization of a vocation, but the quest for material subsistence. «We are ashamed because we don't perform sufficiently or neglect to train ourselves to be worthy to endure on employment. Add in to those feelings so massive, terror of losing their jobs to those who still keep them. The political effect, then, is to achieve ever more exploitable populations, willing to do anything to get a job or keeping it. Shame and fear should be traded, because they constitute an important element of corporate earnings» [2].

We falsely speak of "labor flexibility". This flexibility should not be understood as something that benefits men in their working realization. It is a lying word. Flexibility must be understood as the conditions under which labor can be more effective in serving the wealth and international capital, increasingly anonymous: excessive working hours, little economic retribution, job instability with all the family consequences that this includes, living at the service of business requirements, suffocation of family life and their social and religious environment, greater distress of social welfare for the poorest and less prepared, etc. etc. etc.

«"To reduce fat", to reduce labor costs, is one of the most effective means of saving (for businesses). How many politicians, how many businessmen swear that they create jobs and then boast of having reduced their payroll!», says Viviane Forrester in his denunciation of "The economic horror", published by Polity.

The legitimate human globalization process is used in favor of an human exploitative economy without sense of transcendence and solidarity. It is an economy that deifies capital, business and market, transforming man into an universal serf. Man's life is to serve to capital. «The triumph of the market —one economist says— is evidently triumph of capitalism… The higher the degree of social protection, more must be the unemployment rate to discipline salary demands… The effect of full employment on negotiation power of employees is offset by the relatively precarious forms of employment… In this way is currently expressed the ideology of the world» [3].

The person is a means and an instrument of production as it cannot be replaced by the machine. The machine is more effective and less confrontational. The ideal is to work in the image and likeness of the machine: to meet the minimal needs, wear out and be out of service. In fact, the current "labor flexibility" is the new name of slavery.

4. Man knows how to deceive himself. Employs liberating words but lives oppressive realities. Modern history has run behind fallacious utopias. Men have ended unknowing themselves, losing their dignity. This is attested by the great Wars and use of progress for destruction, the crimes on them, the many political oppressions in the nations, domination in our generation of violence in the city, the empire of drugs and liquor, loss of sexual identity and family, countless injustices and exploitation.

In the economy and labour occurs not only a bad and unjust distribution of money and earnings but also lots of misappropriation of funds in bribes, deals, etc. This also indicates the loss of honesty as social value and expression of human person dignity.

«At the International Conference against Child Labour, recently held in Oslo under the auspices of UNICEF, it was estimated at 250 millions the number of laborer or prostituited childs, of whom 6.5 million are Latin Americans… There also the aggressive neoliberal policies were held responsible as the main causes of the exacerbation of poverty and exploitation of minors» [4].

According to international data, we should be prepared to feed 800 million of starving people generated by this civilization that cannot guarantee or sustain life hopes.

5. Given this scenario where the weed seems to choke the wheat, what can Christians do in today's culture of Secularist globalization? Difficult question to answer if you look at the growing process of dechristianization and the social distancing of traditional values.

To give an answer one have to be placed in the Christian and evangelical starting point: conversion. Conversion not only of the moral life, but personal conversion to Jesus and the teachings of his Gospel. John Paul II put it more in evidence, talking to the ecclesial Movements: «You have learned in the movements and new communities that faith is not an abstract talk, nor vague religious sentiment, but new life in Christ instilled by the Holy Spirit» (Addr. of 05/30/98, n. 7).

In this sense speaks the message of the Special Assembly for America of the Synod of Bishops when says: «The best way to celebrate the Great Jubilee of the birth of the Lord shall be for us to hear his Gospel again, place it in our hearts and share it with humility, gratitude and joy, in the manner of the Apostles at the time of the first Pentecost» (cf. L'Osservatore Romano 11/19/97, page 12, n. 30).

The first thing is that Christians feel, think and live as Christians. The Church, pastorally, needs to regain the capability to evangelize in the light of two beautiful and profound documents: Evangelii Nuntiandi of Paul VI and Redemptoris Missio of John Paul II. The current Christian —to express it with a generalization— must learn to be a Christian. «For God —St. Paul will say— is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work. Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life» (Phil 2:13-16a).

6. The second step is to rediscover the community value of faith. If the lay person communitises, society evangelizes. The biggest problem and threat to faith, it is not the strength of ambient Neopaganism, but the weakness of spirit that manifests the conventional believer, unable to be a witness and announcer of the Kingdom of God.

From this community image of the Church, the world can find what unconsciously seek people of good will across multiple loose seeds of the Kingdom: a civilization under the Plan of God that returns to man his dignity of free being. So he may love the neighbour and seek the eternal fullness of this historical life.

This is to understand the vocation of laity not only from the perspective of party politics but also, religiously, from its globally considered civilizing vocation. And in this sense is a call for Christians to organize communally and deal with the temporal realities from their evangelical vocation of disciples of Christ. So may be aspired to new heavens and a new earth in a civilization worthy of men as children of God.