 "Photo: Christine Soriaga")
While most students scarf down chips and caffeinated drinks to stay awake for exam studying, some will be abstaining from this and many other everyday desires for the Lenten season.
Today marks Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season.
"Lent is a part of our church year that prepares us 40 days in advance for Easter. The reason we have 40 days is because this is a biblical number that represents preparation. For instance, Jesus, before beginning his ministry, went into the desert to prepare for it for 40 days," said Marcel LeJeune, assistant director of Campus Ministry at St. Mary's Catholic Church.
Sundays are not included in the season, and it ends on Holy Thursday, just before Easter.
"Ash Wednesday shows me that Jesus fasted and withdrew from temptation; so for me, I should follow his ways for not only the 40 days, but for the rest of my life," said Thomas Eureste, a junior agriculture and life sciences major.
"Lent originally developed as a 40 day retreat, preparing converts to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. Lent is a season of conversion. Conversion is the process of turning away from sin and turning to God," said LeJeune.
Today, Ash Wednesday is recognized distinctively as the day to receive ashes on one's forehead.
Anyone is welcome to receive ashes during one of the eight masses given by St. Mary's at either Rudder Theater, Blinn student center or St. Mary's Catholic Church.
"The ashes on the forehead are a sign of sorrow for our sins. All of us as preachers have fallen short of God's glory, we all sin and unfortunately, this is part of life. God knows we are sinners, but the point of it is to remind ourselves that we need God's forgiveness. We do this in an outward way on Ash Wednesday and as a community, to prepare for that which offers us salvation and forgiveness of sins as Christ's resurrection during Easter," said LeJeune.
The ashes do not need to be kept on, but doing so is an opportunity to preach to others.
"They come from burned palm branches when we celebrate Palm Sunday the year before. They are put on the forehead just like in the Old Testament in the Bible. We find that people who would repent would cover their heads in ashes and put on sackcloths as a public sign of repentance for sin.
"We do it in a cross because then that would be showing the New Testament that the new covenantal sign of God's forgiveness has been offered to us through the cross, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ," said LeJeune.
After the ashes are placed on the forehead, Catholics usually give up something important to them. Bad habits that are given up are not meant to be taken back after Lent, and this process is meant to help a person grow closer to God.
"Ash Wednesday reminds us that the crucifixion of Jesus is upon us. This is a time when Christians give up an act that is done regularly to show their appreciation for Jesus giving up his life to save us from eternal suffering," said Bryan Olivares, a junior technology management major.
"The reason why we give up something good is to realize that God is the greatest of all goods and to remind ourselves that there is nothing greater than God. Then we start to have some self control over the passions we have," said LeJeune.
During this time, increased prayer, almsgiving and fasting are also advised to be practiced.
Fasting usually involves eating fish instead of meat on Fridays during the season. This is because fish was once known to be the food of the poor, and meat the food of the rich.
"It's in order to show that even food, which we require to sustain our bodily lives, is not as important as God who sustains our spiritual lives and everything else," said LeJeune.
During the Lenten season, increased almsgiving can become a problem with typically low-income college students.
LeJeune recommends fulfilling almsgiving by giving of your time through volunteering. A college student can also save their change throughout the season, then donate it at the end.
"The Lent season itself is a time for me to reflect on how I can improve my relationship with God. I don't try to think of ways to be a perfect Catholic but ways of how to be a better Catholic and a better person in general," said Eduardo Cepeda Jr., a sophomore mechanical engineering major.
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