The system

Bet you knew there was a system.
I didn't.

Apparently the system surrounds the racket of people who come every month into the church looking for help. Looking for money, food or subway tokens. It's their system. Not mine.

"you will always have the poor."

I was informed that a man was coming in today to get his tokens. 10 of them. It was his due. He always got 10 tokens. How dare I question that deal.

Someone else said they wanted a food voucher.

I'm a senior and I can't support myself, can I get some assistance?

All told I have spoken to 5 people looking for assistance today. All the churches in the area keep lists of names and amounts and tokens by name and date. They are the same people.

Yes, there are people who geuninely only need some assistance for a couple of months - but these are the regulars.

How did they get there? How did society fail them? What did they feel like the first time they had to come to a church to ask for help? How do they stop relying on easy money? How do they become self-sufficient?

Do they want to?

How do I reconcile that with the call of Jesus to feed the hungry, clothe the poor and not succumb to the doormat theology where people take advantage of the stewardship and gifts that the parishioners have entrusted me with?