A sower went out to sow....

Today we commemorate the last night of the Lord Jesus with the Twelve disciples who joined him in the upper room for a Passover meal. "Pass-over" is called such because it celebrates the passing over of the people of israel from slavery in Egypt to freedom - through God's hands. Appropriately Jesus celebrated this Jewish meal with his disciples on the eve of his own "Pass-over" - when he will pass from his earthly life to his redemptive dying and rising when he will lead humankind from slavery off sin and death, to the new dawn of life.

Jesus, like any other lover leaving a beloved for a time, wanted to leave a memento of himself. He turned bread into His Body, and wine into His Blood. We call this "transubstantiation."

Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Imus, Cavite, Philippines once preached that there were actually three transformation that happened in the first Holy Thursday:

From object to gift. Bread and wine were objects - things to be used, inanimate. But Jesus blessed these, and they became gifts - living and life-giving - for they are now Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus himself.

From Master to servant. This was the pedagogy of the foot-washing that Jesus made: He is Master, but He is now master who serves the rest. His greatest service will be the laying down of his life.

From mine to yours. Jesus' life was His, now it is shed for all.

May our celebration of another Holy Thursday lead us to live the spirituality of "transubstantiation." May we see others and everything around us as "gifts." May we see ourselves as servants for others. May we always see our lives as not ours, but lives made meaningful by our outpouring to others.