Note: On Fridays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
The “giving up” part of Lent is the easy part, isn’t it? That’s not to say it’s simple to give up smoking or chocolate or wine or computer games or gossiping or losing one’s temper, but it can be done. After all, it’s only six weeks, right? Similarly, for adult Catholics, abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent may take a bit of effort or planning, but with all our seafood and 
vegetarian options these days, it’s not difficult.
The infinitely harder part is prescribed by God in Isaiah 58:6-8:
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Consider this: For some of those who live on society’s margins, life may feel as it did for the disciples in that wretched period from Good Friday until the Resurrection, when they were spiritually fasting, bereft of hope. The disciples’ lives were changed forever on Easter, though it took the Holy Spirit to set their souls on fire to share the Good News with all. Many would die horrible deaths in His name. But nothing was worse than that time of fasting when the bridegroom was taken away, seemingly forever.
In the same way, a gesture of friendship, a warm bed, or a hot meal may help end the fasting of those we are privileged to serve. Or it may not. We may never know. But we do know we are called to make the offer in His name.
