The charitable system that does not aim to make itself unnecessary is not performing service.

In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.

Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven.

St Paul, in his second letter to Corinth, spells this out further in the important eighth and ninth chapters, where he urges some of the Christian communities to be generous to others so that they may also have the chance to be generous in return.

Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values.

Zadaka." That was it. The word literally meant a righteous gift. It had been the favorite term of Ezra's teacher, an invitation for the listener to do a certain thing, not to help the one asking, but rather to help himself. A zadaka was, in its purest form, an opportunity to bless the doer through a godly act.

Charity is the root of all good works.

I want to ask you to place a significant seed in God's soil and see it work for you. Just as a special sacrifice was offered on the Day of Atonement, let me ask you to bring a very special offering.

Human nature being what it is, if you told me you were going to give me one dollar with no strings attached, I probably wouldn't question the gift too much. But if you told me you wanted to give me one hundred dollars with no obligation, I'd have to think about it for a minute before accepting.

To be a Christian is to be obligated to be charitable. This is true whether you are rich or poor, healthy or ill, old or young, male or female, oppressed or free, established or disestablished.

I have to live for others and not for myself: that's middle-class morality.

By demonstrating generosity and trust, you drastically increase the likelihood of making them a client, not to mention proving to them that you can help them.