Hundreds from the Fresno State community attended the Ash Wednesday service on campus, led by Bishop Armando Ochoa of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno, marking the beginning of Lent this season.

At noon, Ochoa entered the Satellite Student Union in his white and purple vestments making this the second year Ash Wednesday mass has been sponsored at Fresno State by the Newman Catholic Student Association and the St. Paul Newman Center.

“Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, and many Catholics and non-Catholics can receive the ashes as a symbolism and reminder of our sinfulness and mortal nature,” ­Alyssa Serpa, a sophomore psychology major and member of the Catholic Student Association said. ­“When you go up to receive your ashes, the person who puts the ashes on your forehead will say, ‘Repent and be faithful to the gospel, or remember man that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’”

Once the mass was over, students had the opportunity to ask the bishop questions.

“They were clearly really heartfelt questions, because they had that look on their faces but he fully engaged them,” said Dr. Honora Chapman, the Catholic Student Association club advisor.

When he saw students outside, Ochoa encouraged them to participate in the service.

“Then further still he said, ‘Well, you know it says we have to go out in the high ways and the by ways, so I’m going to go outside and find more people,’ so he walked outside the front door of the SSU, and he had his canister of ashes, and students who hadn’t even been at the service walked up, and started talking to him and he was blessing them with ashes outside the SSU.”

At the end of the service, a light lunch was provided by University Catering for those who attended. Last year, the bishop suggested having a meal for students who attended mass, saying that there needed to be nourishment for the people.

“And so it was his idea, and then President Castro was kind enough to take the idea, and he got to put on that beautiful spread,” Chapman said.

Despite some college students’ hectic schedules, the CSA wanted to provide a convenient place for students to participate in the ritual.

“We wanted them to be able to still receive ashes on campus even if they are busy doing school,” Elvira Arias, ­junior environmental science major and vice president of CSA said.

Chapman noted the impact on students’ lives of having a personal, religious experience on campus.

“It’s so convenient because you are all so busy, so many commuter students, so many students that honestly don’t have time between work and classes and family life and they’re exhausted by the end of the day or they work at night.”

Carina Pichardo, a junior communicative disorders major, grew up celebrating mass with her family and was grateful to be able to experience Ash Wednesday on campus.

“I work at night, so I can’t attend the night ones, and in the mornings I have classes so this is the right time for me,” Pichardo said. “For those that have that conflict with their schedules and can’t go to mass at another location, it helps them out a lot.”

During the six weeks prior to Easter Sunday, Lent is a time of year where Catholics are encouraged to look inward and ask hard questions about behavior and personal faith, which usually includes prayer and self-denial in some form.

“Thinking hard about being a better person, and that’s what ultimately these times of reflection should be about,” Chapman said.