Allan Kardec-THE Spirit's Book_ The Principles of Spiritist Doctrine (1989)

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THE SPIRITS’ BOOK
outward fact is of little importance in His sight. A prayer, sent up from the depths of the
heart, is a hundredfold more agreeable to God than all the offerings you could possibly make
to Him. I repeat it, the intention is everything; the fact, nothing."
673. Might not these offerings be rendered more agreeable to God by consecrating them to
the relief of those who lack the necessaries of life, and, in that case, might not the sacrificing
of animals, accomplished in view of a useful end, be as meritorious as it is the reverse when
subserving no useful end, or profiting only to those who are in need of nothing? Would there
not be something truly pious in consecrating to the poor the first-fruits of all that God grants
to us upon the earth?
"God always blesses those who do good; to help the poor and afflicted is the best of all ways
of honouring Him. I do not mean to say that God disapproves of the ceremonies you employ
in praying to Him; but a good deal of the money thus spent might be more usefully employed.
God loves simplicity in all things. The man who attaches more importance to externals than
to the heart is a narrow-minded spirit; how, then, could it be possible for God to regard a
form as of any importance in comparison with the sentiment of which it is the expression?"