When we give to the poor, the Lord considers it as precious as a valuable ring.
Human kindness is as precious to Him as life itself. –Sirach 17:22
Alms For The Poor
As water extinguishes a blazing fire, so alms-giving atones for sin.
Those who repay favors give thought to the future; When they fall they will find support.
Duties Toward the Poor and the Oppressed
Do not cheat the poor of their living and do not keep needy eyes waiting. Do not grieve the
hungry or anger one in need. Do not add to the troubles of the desperate or delay giving to the
needy. Do not reject a suppliant in distress or turn your face away from the poor. Do not avert
your eyes from the needy and give no one reason to curse you; For if in bitterness of soul some
should curse you, their Creator will hear their prayer. Endear yourself to the congregation,
bow your head low to the Great. Give hearing to the ppr and return their greeting politely.
Rescue to oppressed from the oppressor; do not be hesitant in giving a verdict. Be a father to
orphans and be like a husband to their mother; You will then be like a son of the Most High and
He will love you more than does your mother. –Sirach 3:30-31; 4:1-10
TweetJesus Warns Against Hypocrisy & Covetousness
“Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become
known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light and what you
have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.
I tell you My Friends (Jesus’ Disciples) do not fear those who kill the body and after can do
nothing more but I will warn you whom to fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed has
authority to cast into Hell! Yes I tell you, fear Him!
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight but
even the hairs of your head are all counted.
Do not be afraid; You are more value than many sparrows.
I tell you, everyone who acknowledges Me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge
before the Angels of God but whoever denies Me before others will be denied before the Angels
of God.
Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven but whoever blasphemes
against the Holy Spirit will, not be forgiven.
When they bring you before the Synagogues, the rulers and the authorities do not worry about
how you are to defend yourselves or what to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very
hour what you ought to say.”
The Parable of the Rich Fool
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance
with me.’ Jesus said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you? — Take
care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the
abundance of possessions.”
Then Jesus told the crowd a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly and he
thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then the rich man
said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones and there I will store all my
grain and my goods and I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many
years; relax, eat, drink and be merry.’
However, God said to him (the rich man), “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded
of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So it is with those who store up
treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
Do Not Worry
Jesus said to His Disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat
or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than
clothing. Consider the ravens: They neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouses nor
barn and yet God feeds them. Of how how more value are you than birds!
Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do
so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?
Consider the lilies, how they grow: They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all
his glory was not clothed like one of these. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive
today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you
— you of little faith!
Do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink and do not keep
worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things and Your Father
knows that you need them. Instead strive for His Kingdom and these things will be given to you
as well.
Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is Your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Sell
your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing
treasure in Heaven where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also.” –Luke 12:1-34