How would I spend my last kiss?

Homily

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion

17 April 2025

St. Ann Church Prairie Village

AMDG

Who's the best kisser here today?  Is it you? Is it me?

Welcome to the Church's annual smackdown, her ultimate kissing contest.

What if I had only one kiss left to give?

Would I give it now?

Would I give it here?

I can tell you for sure how I would NOT spend my last kiss - on the kiss cam!  I hate the kiss cam.  I don't go to sporting events for PDA.  The inventor of the kiss cam should be canceled.  I don't care if everyone but me loves it.  I live in perpetual fear that some cameral operator far far away would think it funny to zoom in on a priest during the kiss cam.  So whenever it comes on, I make a beeline for the beer line.  The kiss cam - it's a hard no for me.

Yet I do have within me one passionate kiss.  I do have an expression of adoration that is ultimate within me.  How will I use the last kiss of my life?  Will I spend it now?  Will I spend it here?

The last kiss in today's Passion story is that of Judas.  It's the kiss of betrayal.  It's the kiss of death.  You just participated in the drama.  Jesus is dead, and you killed him.  You kissed him.  That's where the story is. That's where the story could end - his and yours.

Yet what if you have one kiss left?  Would you spend it now?  Would you spend it here?

The Good Friday liturgy is famous for its liturgical kiss.  When you approach the crucifix in just a few minutes, you get to choose what your kiss means.  Will it be the most passionate kiss of your life?  Will it be the kiss of betrayal, the kiss of death, and where your story will end.  Or will it be a passionate kiss of devotion for a love that dares to die, and where you story truly begins?

The story of God's love for you, and your response, turns on the axis of the cross.  There's an ultimate decision to be made.  The axis of the cross that we hold in veneration can only mean two thing.  It's either the final defeat of love, or the precise place where new and eternal life begins.  

So what if you only had one kiss left to give?  Would you give it now? Would you give it here?

+mj