That is right. But what you people were doing was accusing me of being a judas because I talked on and on about the poor. What I was trying to explain was that the conversation with Mary, Jesus and Judas centered around the oil, Judas wanting to sell it, and Jesus rebuking him, telling Mary to “keep this for the Day of My Burial”. so far, we’re on the same page, I think. What I said, is this is not the case today. What do we do with our precious items today, our “oil”, it certainly isn’t to be saved for the day of Christ’s burial. That’s done, HE’s resurrected now. So what is to be done with it? Is it to be used on buildings, used for the Gospel, either/or both? This was the point I was trying to make before I became the Judas of this thread.
Believe me, we know about the poor. More than anyone can possibly imagine. There are whole orders organized around feeding and caring for the poor. There is an organization named for a great saint, St. Vincent de Paul, who was dedicated to the care of the poor that is supposed to be in parishes for this purpose. In my parish, the budget for this ministry is about $50K annually. And that's just my parish. People give food and cash to help the poor. We have a food pantry and pay utility bills, among other things. And then there are the charitable wings of Catholic hospitals, which were set up originally as a place for the religious to serve the sick who could not afford in-home care. This is all IN ADDITION to paying craftsmen and artists to help inspire us. It's been estimated that the material assets of the Church could be sold off and the proceeds could feed the world for less than a week. Then where would we be? The poor will always be with us. With the beautiful art and architecture dedicated to Christ, the poor may be rich right alongside those of us who are better off.