When You Give Alms

When You Give Alms - From Fr.  Thomas Hopko’s 

The Lenten Spring, Ch.32

In His sermon on the mount Jesus not only gives instructions about prayer and fasting, He gives commandments about almsgiving as well. Indeed, in the sermon, this part comes first.

…when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees you in secret will reward you. (Mt.6:24)

Jesus, once again, did not say, if you give alms. He said, when you give alms. In this, as in all of His teachings, He confirms the commandments of God’s law in the Old Covenant. (See Ex.22:21-27; Lev.25:35-37.) 

He who despises his neighbor is a sinner,

But happy is he who is kind to the poor….

He who oppresses a poor man insults his Maker,

But he who is kind to the needy honors Him.

(Prov.14:21,31)

The apostles of Christ magnified the Master’s teaching about the need to help the needy. They insisted that human perfection consists in giving to the poor and following Christ. They taught, with Jesus, that the measure one gives is the measure one gets. They were convinced that the greatest imitation of God is to give everything without asking anything in return. And when such perfection could not be literally accomplished, the commandment to share one’s possessions, not from one’s abundance but out of one’s needs, was considered binding on all. (1)

“Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need. “ (Acts 4:32-35)

According to the Scriptures, the giving of one’s possessions to satisfy the needs of others is the most concrete expression of faith and of love. A person who claims to believe in God but does not help the needy has no living faith.

“What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” (Jas.2:14-17)

And a person who claims to love God and his neighbors, but fails to express his love in acts of generosity, is a self-deceived liar.

“By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us  not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth.” (1Jn. 3:16-18)

Among the saints, no one is more insistent on the necessity of almsgiving than St. John Chrysostom. He identifies alms with the oil in the lamps of the virgins in Christ's parable. Without this oil of almsgiving, our lamps are not lit and we cannot enter into the bridal chamber of Christ. He calls generosity the treasury of the Church through which we are made godlike. For those who can give alms but do not, there is no salvation. Feed the needy now, Chrysostom proclaims, or be ready forever to feed the fires of hell. (2)

Do you see  that the failure to give alms is enough to cast a person into hellfire? For where will he avail who does not give alms? Do you fast every day? So also did those foolish virgins, but it availed them nothing. Do you pray? So did they. What of it? Prayer without almsgiving is unfruitful. Without that all things are unclean and unprofitable. The better part of virtue is destroyed. “He who does not love his brother,” it is said, “does not know God” (1 Jn 4:8) And how do you love him, when you do not even give him these things which are worthless and passing…here we can resemble God, in showing mercy and generosity. When we have not these qualities, we are devoid of all good. (3)

For almsgiving is the mother of love, of that love which is characteristic of Christianity, which is greater than all miracles, by which the disciples of Christ are manifested. (4)

Woe to him, it is said, who does not give alms. And if this was the case under the Old Covenant, much more is it under the New….For what did they of old not do? They gave tithes, and tithes upon tithes, for orphans and widows and strangers. Recently, someone said to me of a Christian: “Why, such a person gives tithes!” What a disgrace this expression implies! What was not a matter of wonder with the Jews has come to be so in the case of Christians! If there was danger then in omitting tithes, think how great it must be now! (5)

For what is required is that we give, not much or little, but not less than is in our power. Think about the widow…who gave her whole living. But you in the midst of your plenty are more stingy than she. Let us not be careless for our own salvation, but apply ourselves to almsgiving. For nothing is better than this, as the time to come will tell…. (6)

St. Basil the Great is no less insistent on this subject than St. John. “he who takes another’s clothing is called a thief,” he writes, “but he who fails to clothe the naked, if he could, deserves the very same name. The grain in your barns belongs to the hungry.The cost in your closet belongs to the naked. The shoes rotting in your basement belong to the barefoot. The silver hidden in boxes belongs to the needy. You sin against all those whom you are able to help, but fail to do so.” (7) 

These teachings of the saints are those of Christ and the Church.

Come, let us purify our souls with alms and mercy

To the poor,

Not blowing the trumpet or publishing what we do in charity,

Lest our left hand know what our right hand has done,

And vainglory steal from us the fruit of our alms.

But let us plead in secret with the One who knows

all secrets:

“Father, forgive us our wrongs,

for You are the only Lover of Man!  (8).      First Sunday Vespers

If we set our hands to dong good,

The effort of Lent will be a time of repentance for us,

A means to eternal life.

For nothing saves so much as giving to those in need. 

Alms inspired by fasting delivers a person from death.

Let us embrace the giving of alms,

For it has no equal [in the spiritual life].

It is sufficient to save our souls. (9).           Second Thursday Matins

1. See Mk:4:24; Mt.7:2; Lk.6:32-38, 18-22, 21:1-4
2. St. John Chrysostom, On Philippians, 2.
3. On II Timothy, 6.
4. On Titus, 6.
5. On Ephesians, 4.
6. On Colossians, 1.
7. St. Basil the Great, Against the Rich, 6.  See also Chrysostom, On Lazarus, 2.
8. First Sunday Vespers
9. Second Thursday matins.