The Newman Catholic Student Center hopes a few thousand people will attend church today to celebrate Ash Wednesday.

The center, 512 Normal Road, will have five different masses to better accommodate schedules of students, employees and professors, said Fr. Michael Black, head pastor. Free soup supper will also be served following these masses, Black said.

The reason for Ash Wednesday comes from the Bible, Black said. Genesis 3, verse 19 reads: “For dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Ash Wednesday is also the beginning of the 40 days fasting before the coming of Easter, Black said.

Tradition calls for Catholics to fast from eating meat for 40 days.

“We do not give up meat because it is bad but because it is good,” Black said.

Protestants can also learn from the tradition, said Brent Batiste, Campus Director for CRU, part of Campus Crusade for Christ. There is a great impact in reflecting on the death of Christ and in what he accomplished on the cross for us, Bastiste said.

“Ash Wednesday is very important to my faith,” said Mark Fijalkiewicz, a senior mathematics education major. “It is also a time to see where you stand at in your life.”

When you give up something you like it makes you grow, Fijalkiewicz said. Last year, he gave up soda and has drank less since, he said.

A lot of people go to church Ash Wednesday- more than any other time of the year, said John Boehlefeld, a junior music education major.

“You see a lot of people on campus wearing ashes, and that puts things in perspective,” Boehlefeld said.

For more information on the Newman Catholic Student Center masses, call 787-7770.