The Right to Bear Alms

Just about everyone knows the Bible verse, “The love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). So many people sacrifice their very being, their families, and their soul to make as much money as possible, as if God put us down here on earth for that purpose. People will travel the world over to conduct business deals to make lots of money, money, money.  Few, however, stop into the local church to kneel before the tabernacle, the dwelling place of Jesus Christ on earth, to humble themselves and to pray for salvation. The Bible says in Matthew 19:23 that it will be very hard for the rich to enter heaven (although not impossible). Why? Because rich people who make money their god (their idol) put all of their faith in their abundant bank account instead of in God. In other words, there is a great tendency for rich people to worship the almighty dollar instead of the Almighty. Many of them might never think about dying and having to face Jesus, our judge, and to give an account of their life to him. “Dying is for those other people, not me,” some think. “The way things are now is the way thing will always be,” seems to be their thought process. Rich people who ignore God their entire lives should know that they are receiving their blessing from God now, while on earth. Unless they repent, they will receive the ultimate penalty after their death.

Almsgiving vs. Taxes

A lot of people will vote for politicians in one political party, thinking that they will “help the poor” more than those in another party by steering tax money to government programs. THIS IS NOT ALMSGIVING, and besides, studies have shown that less than 25 cents on the dollar ever makes its way to the poor in government programs. A lot of these politicians who are comfortable using other people’s money usually prove to be very stingy regarding their own personal almsgiving from their own bank accounts. Almsgiving is when YOU AND I give money to the poor and has nothing at all to do with tax money being spent on government programs.

Health and Wealth Scam

One of the great wicked deceptions going on today is the “health and wealth” gospel as seen on TV by many Protestant preachers. Their message seems to be “Give me lots of money to preach on TV and to buy a private luxury jet, and you will then be rewarded in this life with lots of money from God in return.” The simple flaw in this scam is that Jesus told the rich young man to sell all he had and give it to the POOR (not to him), and then he would be rewarded in the NEXT LIFE with eternal salvation, not lots of money in this life. So many people fall for this flim-flam!

The Cure for Loving Money Too Much – ALMSGIVING!

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” (Luke 6:24)

So what is the cure for this vice?  Plainly and simply, it’s almsgiving.  The Bible has a lot to say about sacrificial giving of money to the poor. For the record, almsgiving is not philanthropy, which is donating money out of surplus funds instead of from day-to-day needs. In other words, surplus donations mean that you do not trust in God to help you in your future needs, because you still have lots of dollars left over in your account for those necessities, as per the following: 

He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42:A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43: then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44:For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:41)

Jesus tells us that if we are stingy with others, then we shouldn’t expect much. But the converse of this statement is also true: If we give a lot, then our reward in heaven will be great:

And he said to them, “Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. (Mark 4:24)

The book of Tobit is my favorite book in the Old Testament. St. Paul refers to this book with his “some have entertained angels unaware” remark in Hebrews 13:2. St. Raphael the Archangel secretly appears as a human being to Tobit and Tobias, and has lots to say about almsgiving in Tobit 12:

8: Prayer is good when accompanied by fasting, almsgiving, and righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than much with wrongdoing. It is better to give alms than to treasure up gold. 9: For almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purge away every sin. Those who perform deeds of charity and of righteousness will have fullness of life: 10: but those who commit sin are the enemies of their own lives. 

Here we learn from the Archangel Raphael that almsgiving is so powerful that it delivers from death and atones for sin! Treasuring gold (money) and hating to give alms is a recipe for disaster.

Previously, in Tobit 4, we learn the following:

7: Give alms from your possessions to all who live uprightly, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you make it. Do not turn your face away from any poor man, and the face of God will not be turned away from you. 

The lesson in these verses is that if we want God to look at us and save us, then we need to give alms to His poor.

Tobit 14 also has an important message concerning the power of almsgiving:

10: Bury me properly, and your mother with me. And do not live in Nineveh any longer. See, my son, what Nadab did to Ahikar who had reared him, how he brought him from light into darkness, and with what he repaid him. But Ahikar was saved, and the other received repayment as he himself went down into the darkness. Ahikar gave alms and escaped the deathtrap which Nadab had set for him; but Nadab fell into the trap and perished. 11: So now, my children, consider what almsgiving accomplishes and how righteousness delivers.” 

These verses let us know infallibly that Ahikar gave alms and he was saved from a deathtrap.  It seems that Nadab was a victim of his own evil plan! Similarly, the devil has physical or spiritual deathtraps planned for us all in our future, So by giving alms, we will not fall into his traps.

Sirach also talks about the power of sacrificial giving to the poor.

Sirach 3:30: Water extinguishes a blazing fire: so almsgiving atones for sin. 31: Whoever requites favors gives thought to the future; at the moment of his falling he will find support. 

Here God says that almsgiving not only atones for our sins but will help us avoid calamities in our future life.

Jesus also talks about almsgiving in Matthew 6: 

2:“Thus, 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 their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 

Here we learn from God Himself that bragging about the fact that we are helping the poor will negate our heavenly reward.  The poor box in the back of the church and the Sunday envelope to the St. Vincent de Paul Society are ways to do this in secret.

In the book of Acts, we learn that even a Roman Gentile centurion’s prayers are more powerful when accompanied by copious amounts of almsgiving:

Acts 10:1: At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms liberally to the people, and prayed constantly to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror, and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.”

Quotes from the Saints

“Let us also love our neighbors as ourselves. Let us have charity and humility. Let us give alms because these cleanse our souls from the stains of sin. Men lose all the material things they leave behind them in this world, but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give. For these they will receive from the Lord the reward and recompense they deserve.”

–St. Francis of Assisi

“And when He wished to set forth a man perfect and complete by the observation of the law, He said, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.”

–St. Cyprian of Carthage

“Almsgiving above all else requires money, but even this shines with a brighter luster when the alms are given from our poverty. The widow who paid in the two mites was poorer than any human, but she outdid them all.”

–St. John Chrysostom

“If you are attached to the things of this earth, you should give alms sufficient to enable you to punish your avarice by depriving yourself of all that is not absolutely necessary for life.”

–St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

The arch angel Raphael reveals, and manifests, and certifies that our petitions become efficacious by almsgiving, that life is redeemed from dangers by almsgiving, that souls are delivered from death by almsgiving.”

–St. Cyprian of Carthage

“For the devil may tempt the good, but he cannot find rest in them; for he is shaken violently, and upset, and driven out, now by their prayers, now by their tears of repentance, and now by their almsgiving and similar good works.”

–St. Bruno

Cain’s and Abel’s Sacrifices

The Bible doesn’t really tell us why Cain’s sacrificial offering to God was second rate, while Abel’s was accepted. But theologians speculate that the reason is because Abel gave to God the best he had, while Cain gave God his leftovers.  So, try to give to God your best. Tithing is defined as 10%, and the Catholic Church says that this is time, talent, AND treasure.  So, if you aren’t donating your time and talent to the Church through some lay ministry, then 10% of your income may be what God is calling you to donate.

Malachi 3:8: Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How are we robbing thee?’ In your tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me; the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house; and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.