Homily
Good Friday of the Lord's Passion
10 April 2020
St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas
Tonight, who will give the best kiss?
C'mon man. We just tortured Jesus.
That's the pivotal question?
I'm not kidding.
Who will emerge from this night as the best kisser?
Tonight's liturgy involves the only liturgical kiss of the year by the faithful. You only get one shot per year to get it right. Pressure intended! So who is going to win tonight's smack down? Will it be me? Will it be you?
You're invited to make the most passionate kiss of the year on Good Friday, because the cross is the ultimate sign of compassion. I pray that at a minimum tonight's sacred remembering helps you to feel what He feels, and in turn deeply trust that He feels what you feel. That alone is worth a kiss right there.
But there's so much more. And you will not win tonight's kissing contest if you stop there.
For the cross that you kiss is also the axis for the creation of all that is and will be. Wait a second, you might say. I know better. Long before there was a me, God through a kiss of love created everything out of nothing. True enough.
But tonight destroyed all that. That first kiss that created everything from nothing has been revoked by the kiss of Judas. I have added my own betrayal to his regarding that first everything. Crucify him. I prefer the tree of death to the tree of life. The author of life himself is dead, and I killed him. It is finished. That first everything is once again nothing. The cross proves it.
And the new nothing of the cross is darker than the first abyss. The victory of evil is a a more complete defeat than the mere absence of goodness. What could negate being more than the death of God?
Wherever ground zero is, we're way south of there. So where could we possibly go from this new nothing that is the cross?
That's where your kiss comes in.
What's the biggest difference between that first abyss and the nothing of the cross?
Surprisingly, it is this.
You weren't there.
But you are here.
God created from the first abyss without you, through a kiss that was just a piece of Himself.
From tonight on, he desires to creates from the nothing of the cross through you. Through anyone who joins Jesus at the spot where He gave all of Himself.
Will I, on the same night that I betrayed him with a kiss on the lips, kiss his feet and tell him I'll suffer and die with him to create life that can never again be reduced to nothing?
If so, the cross can never again be the place where my story ends, but precisely the axis where my life begins.
My kiss is my answer.
So let the smackdown begin.
Who will give the best kiss?
Good Friday of the Lord's Passion
10 April 2020
St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas
Tonight, who will give the best kiss?
C'mon man. We just tortured Jesus.
That's the pivotal question?
I'm not kidding.
Who will emerge from this night as the best kisser?
Tonight's liturgy involves the only liturgical kiss of the year by the faithful. You only get one shot per year to get it right. Pressure intended! So who is going to win tonight's smack down? Will it be me? Will it be you?
You're invited to make the most passionate kiss of the year on Good Friday, because the cross is the ultimate sign of compassion. I pray that at a minimum tonight's sacred remembering helps you to feel what He feels, and in turn deeply trust that He feels what you feel. That alone is worth a kiss right there.
But there's so much more. And you will not win tonight's kissing contest if you stop there.
For the cross that you kiss is also the axis for the creation of all that is and will be. Wait a second, you might say. I know better. Long before there was a me, God through a kiss of love created everything out of nothing. True enough.
But tonight destroyed all that. That first kiss that created everything from nothing has been revoked by the kiss of Judas. I have added my own betrayal to his regarding that first everything. Crucify him. I prefer the tree of death to the tree of life. The author of life himself is dead, and I killed him. It is finished. That first everything is once again nothing. The cross proves it.
And the new nothing of the cross is darker than the first abyss. The victory of evil is a a more complete defeat than the mere absence of goodness. What could negate being more than the death of God?
Wherever ground zero is, we're way south of there. So where could we possibly go from this new nothing that is the cross?
That's where your kiss comes in.
What's the biggest difference between that first abyss and the nothing of the cross?
Surprisingly, it is this.
You weren't there.
But you are here.
God created from the first abyss without you, through a kiss that was just a piece of Himself.
From tonight on, he desires to creates from the nothing of the cross through you. Through anyone who joins Jesus at the spot where He gave all of Himself.
Will I, on the same night that I betrayed him with a kiss on the lips, kiss his feet and tell him I'll suffer and die with him to create life that can never again be reduced to nothing?
If so, the cross can never again be the place where my story ends, but precisely the axis where my life begins.
My kiss is my answer.
So let the smackdown begin.
Who will give the best kiss?
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