Fasting from food during Lent should also include fasting from sinful acts, a Catholic bishop yesterday said.

Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara of Pasig said that Lent is a time for people to correct their bad habits and make themselves a little bit more in Christ’s image.

“The best fasting is to fast from sin. We often commit sins, right? So avoid committing sin,” Vergara said at an Ash Wednesday service in the Immaculate Conception Cathedral of Pasig.

The vice president of the country’s bishops’ conference challenged the faithful to take the season of Lent seriously and to make spiritual progress in their lives.

He also called the 40-day season a moment for personal conversion, which allows people to look at the needs of others and to grow in love.

In doing so, the bishop encouraged the Catholics to commit “wholeheartedly” to the three disciplines of fasting, prayer and almsgiving.

“The challenge really is for us to do more than do less— more time for prayer, do more almsgiving,” Vergara said. “And this will lead us to the path of holiness.”