How would I give my last kiss?

Homily

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion

29 March 2024

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

If I had one kiss left to give, how would I give it?

Would I give it here?

Would I give it now?

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 camera 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 a passionate kiss.  I do have an expression of adoration that is ultimate within me.  How am I going to give my last kiss?  Will I spend it here?  Will I spend it now?

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 I killed him. I kissed him.  That's where the story is. That's where the story could end.

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 axis of the cross is a decision point for your kiss.  It can only mean two things.  It's either the final defeat of love, or the 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