NOTES for Mat 26:6-16
Jesus' words about the poor, who will always exist, make us think. Today, when the fight against poverty, at least in words, is becoming one of the main priorities, they can certainly be somewhat disconcerting. But Jesus says them for a reason, and in the context of a specific situation, when voices are heard calling for those poor people, who according to His word are "always with us," to be preferred over Him. And here the question of choice arises, the question of the priorities that define our life.
Historically, Christianity has always supported every kind of social ministry: help for the poor, the sick, the rejected, charity both individual and collective - in short, everything that can in any way ease the condition of those for whom life is hard. And here, sooner or later, both individuals carrying out such ministries and entire communities inevitably face the question: who is first for us? Christ or the poor?
It would seem that there is no need to choose here: social ministry, at first glance, cannot possibly hinder spiritual life. But that is only how it looks at first glance, because social ministry is a ministry like any other. The Kingdom came into the world not with the poor, but with Christ, and it exists in the world because the Church is, in the apostle's words, the Body of Christ, not because it is a charitable organization. And social ministry, like any outward activity, takes on a life of its own and seeks to swallow a person whole. If it is allowed to do so, that person can easily forget the Kingdom, devoting himself entirely to the poor. And then he will no longer be able to help those to whom he devotes himself, because, in the Savior's words, man does not live by bread alone.