“I came that all may have life” (Jn 10:10): Aspects of the “culture of life” in the light of the Church's Social Doctrine

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on the necessary changes in a culture impregnated in the mentality of contemporary human beings: “the culture of death”. Starting from the biblical enlightenment of the Gospel of John 10,10 “I came that they may have life, and have it to the full”, we seek to base the witness of baptized Christians for the radical option for justice and peace, that lead them to always choose for life, especially for the most vulnerable people, the poor, God's favorites. The missionary disciples on the path of evangelization find hopes and challenges to the system that produces the culture of death as opposed to culture and care for life. In order for lay Christians to increasingly assume their mission of being “salt of the earth and light of the world”, it is necessary to be a Church on the way out, with the courage to dialogue with cultures that try to impose the loss of meaning. of God, and to promote the urgent task of moving from the globalization of indifference to the globalization of fraternity. Looking at Mary, the poor young woman from the outskirts of Nazareth, we look to her Magnificat for inspiration.