BROWNSVILLE – Dozens of University of Texas Rio Grande Valley students gathered Wednesday afternoon for the annual Ash Wednesday mass at the Brownsville campus.

Catholic Diocese of Brownsville Bishop Daniel Flores led the mass on a day which marks the beginning of Lent.

He delivered a message of unity telling students Lent is about the sense that people are deeply connected to one another and also responsible for each other.

“Lent is not about proving how strong we are or how holy we can be if we just try hard enough, and that’s how we give up things. People misunderstand that,” he says. “Lent is actually a recognition that we are deeply connected as human beings. That we do have a responsibility one to the other. And that is simply not possible for a Christian to be in this life and be indifferent to the condition of the neighbor.”

Flores also talked about the uniqueness and importance of fasting and asked students to be generous to each other.