Q. Is it better to give up something or to do something extra?
A. The merit of fast and abstinence is something that is under complete control by the individual. On days of abstinence no meat, on days of fast one principal meal, two other meals that together do not equal the principal meal and without meat, simple in its way.

Some people might say that doesn’t do much for me, so each week during Lent I will do something extra for the poor — feed a family or participate in a soup kitchen or other activity organized by the parish for the sick or the homebound or somebody that needs help.

If that serves to remind you of the Paschal Mystery, so be it. That choice is, by the fathers of the second Vatican Council, left to the individual.

The purpose of any penance whether it is fast or abstinence or a promise to do something more frequently with more involvement than you usually do is not to achieve a victory but the surrender.

It is to show to God that you realize that He is our creator and our redeemer and our sanctifier, and that without a relationship with Him there is no eternal happiness.

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