"In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." See Acts 3:1-8
These words rang out as the people were gathering at the Temple in Jerusalem to pray. In the book of Acts we read how the disciples Peter and John saw a man who had been crippled from his birth. The man was sitting at the gate of the Temple. Because of his disability he was forced to beg, and so he called out to the two disciples and asked for alms.
Peter and John didn't ignore the man or his plea. Almsgiving, at that time, was an important part of the Jews' religious practice, and was considered an exercise in righteousness. Charity to the poor was regarded as an act of pleasing God.
