reading from the sermons of St. John Chrysostom

Do not adorn the temple while scorning your afflicted brothers and sisters.
"Do you want to honor Christ' body? Then do not scorn him naked now, honoring him here in church with silk vestments but neglecting him out there where he is cold and naked. He who said, "This is my body," also said, "You saw me hungry and did not feed me." The deed we do here in church requires a pure heart, not splendid vestments; but the deed we do out there requires great concern and effort.
Let us become wise, then, and honor Christ as he wishes. The sweetest honor for anyone is the honor he really wants, not the honor others may mistakenly choose to give him. Peter thought to honor Christ by refusing to let him wash his feet; yet to Chris the refusal was anything but an honor. Show him, then, the honor his commandment requires by giving your riches to the poor. God does not want gold vessels but gold hearts.
I am not trying to prevent you from using gorgeous vestments but only asking you also, and first, to give alms. The Lord accepts the ornaments, but he is much more eager for the alms. Only the offerer profits by the adornments; both the giver and the receiver profit by the alms.
What use is it for Christ to have golden cups on the table if he is dying of hunger? First fill the hungry person; then adorn the table with what is leftover. Will you provide a cup of gold and not give a cup of water? What good is it to Christ to have a gold tablecloth when he has no clothes by which to be covered? If you see a man hungry and you abandon him in order to deck the altar with gold for his sake, do you expect him to be grateful to you? If you see people freezing in rags and refuse them clothes but erect golden columns in their names what response do you expect/ Will they not think you are making fools of them?
Think, then, how Christ feels as he wanders homeless. You do not give him a roof, but you build a glorious temple for him! Once again, I am not attacking all these adornments; I am only bidding you to put first things first. No one who has failed to adorn churches has ever been accused by the Lord, but hell awaits those who scorn a brother or sister in need. A brother or sister is a far more precious temple that a church."