Today, Ash Wednesday, marks the first day of Lent, and some OU students will spend the next 40 days trying to live without a specific food, vice or even daily convenience.

“I haven’t decided yet what to give up this year,” said Lauren Forest, economics sophomore. “But last year when I lived on the sixth floor of the dorms, my roommate and I gave up the elevator. We gave that up because we knew it would be a challenge, but that it would be good for us and still be a realistic sacrifice we could make.”

The 40 days of Lent do not include Sundays, which commemorate the resurrection, Forest said. In the Roman Catholic Church, Lent ends at sundown April 1, which is Holy Thursday.

Blaire Kerwin, microbiology sophomore, said she uses Lent as a remembrance.

“The 40 days of Lent represents the 40 days that Christ was in the desert,” said Father Billy Lewis of Immaculate Conception Church in Oklahoma City. “And we take that time to fast, pray and come closer to Christ and that time is used by fasting and prayer to renew ourselves, to really change from maybe who we were the whole year to recommit ourselves to Christ.”

And Catholics aren’t the only ones who celebrate Lent. Individual churches in some other large denominations, such as Anglicanism and Lutheranism, choose to celebrate the traditionally Catholic Holy Days.

One such denomination is Methodism. Methodist beliefs are two steps away from Catholic beliefs, said Cal Brannon, associate minister at McFarlin United Methodist Church. Methodists use the same framework that the Anglican Christians use, but are probably not as intentional about doing penitence.

“[The Methodists] do not believe that our acts of repentance are in order to be forgiven, but an expression of our faith and God’s grace because we are forgiven,” Brannon said.

Kerwin said she will be giving up soft drinks and candy.

“Giving something up for Lent is for the purpose of sacrificing something you enjoy and remembering the great sacrifice Jesus made when he died for us,” Forest said. “Jesus was willing to make that sacrifice for us, so we give something up for Lent to show that we are willing to sacrifice for him.”

Many times people give up types of food they enjoy such as sweets, chips or soda, Forest said. Anything is good to give up, as long as it is a sacrifice.