To Give Alms

In the course of my service, I have heard many people use giving as an excuse in order to achieve or increase their wealth. They say, for example: “if I win the lottery grand prize, I will give half of it to the poor”, or “…I will finish (for you) the construction of the new church” … You laugh or weep! I do not remember who said (perhaps the author of "The Ladder of Divine Ascent”): “The start of avarice is the excuse of charity, and the completion is a loathing of the poor”. Whoever said this statement which I quoted from my memory, I believe that it was God who commissioned him, in it, to rebuke us all, rich and poor. Watch out for yourselves. No mistake in the universe is greater than our ignorance that we are all in need of giving alms much more than the need of the poor for our alms. To give alms, this is our freedom!