Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
Alms, alms, alms. The word shows up 163 times at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ site… and just three times in the New Testament.
While the first image that may come to mind is providing funds to someone who’s destitute, almsgiving means much more than that. The 
USCCB site tells us it’s “donating money or goods to the poor and performing other acts of charity.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls it “a witness to fraternal charity … a work of justice pleasing to God.”
So what does all that mean? That tithing to your parish or donating to the Bishop’s Lenten Appeal or taking gently used items to Goodwill are all good things. But almsgiving doesn’t end there. People are poor in ways beyond their bank accounts. Fraternal charity includes all our brothers and sisters, not just those who frequent homeless shelters and food pantries; it includes people we are tempted to envy for their wealth and despise for their political views.
You see, giving alms is about surrender. It’s about not being careful as we select those with whom we share our witness, financially, emotionally, or otherwise. It’s about being consistent and non-discriminatory when it comes to those works of justice, whether or not we receive it in return on this earth. When we pick and choose to whom we reflect Christ in our daily encounters, we become dirtier and dirtier inside. We become slaves to our biases and self-interests. We turn over our freedom to evil without evil having to lift a finger.
