Alms

Some things about alms based on the teachings of orthodox Christianity (Kritikos, 2022):

-It doesn’t refer to only giving e.g. money to someone in need. It can also refer to any help that you can give to someone in need e.g. calling a lonely person.

-It actually makes you happier. You may think that you will waste your afternoon and instead of e.g. going out, you will visit a sick person and that you will not have a good time. However, this sacrifice that you will make and spending time with the sick person, will make you feel happier. It is actually better to give than to get.

-We should watch to not do alms because we want to be seen by people and we want them to congratulate us or think that we are a good person. Jesus explicitly says that this is all of the reward that you will get, if your alms has these motives. If it has a good motive, instead, your act of alms will also be taken into account and be beneficial for the salvation of your soul.

-It is actually even better if you manage to help someone in a way that people will not learn about what you did. It is ideal that the person that you will help will not feel that he owes you something for the good thing that you did to him too.

References

Kritikos, M. (2022). “Alms,” in What does God want from us? Sermon on the Mount. Hesychasterion of Anastantos Christos Peiraeus, Athens.