A Great Kiss

Understanding Jesus’ love and kiss in Communion

05/12/2023

Jn 15:12-17 Jesus said to his disciples: "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another."

What do you think is the greatest love story ever told? I mean besides your own love story, of course, which everyone thinks is the greatest of all time. Well, if you were to ask me, I would answer: The Princess Bride is the greatest love story ever told. Have you ever seen the movie The Princess Bride? You would love it, even if you do not have a romantic bone in your body. Now, why do I think it is the greatest love story? Well because Wesley and Buttercup exchange the greatest kiss of all time. Every great love comes with a great kiss.

At the end of the movie – sorry for the spoiler alert – Wesley saves Buttercup, and the two are seated on different horses in the final scene. As they reach over to kiss one another, the narrator says: “Since the invention of the kiss, there have been five that have been rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.” So, this movie must be the greatest love story of all time because it showcases the greatest kiss of all time.

Now a kiss is a pretty good measure of love because it symbolizes what you are willing to do for another person, namely, you are willing to die for them. Wesley was willing and ready to die for Buttercup. So, his kiss carried all the strength of that self-sacrifice, which he demonstrated again and again in the movie.

In the gospel today, Jesus also touches the true depths of love as self-sacrifice by telling his disciples at the Last Supper, “No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” And that is exactly what Jesus did the next day on the Cross. That is, Jesus did not need a kiss to symbolize his love because he was love itself. Everything he did was a symbol and a sign and the reality of love; he was love incarnate. And that is why Jesus’ love for us is the greatest love story ever told.

I am so pleased that OCA has decided to have an annual Mass and tea with students’ moms. Because your mother’s love for you is another great love story. And your mom’s love for you is also symbolized by kisses, and confirmed by her self-sacrifice. Your moms love to kiss you, and that can get embarrassing as you get older. Your moms kissed you a lot when you were babies, and they would still kiss you a lot, if you let them.

Boys and girls, you may doubt this as a teenager, but your moms would lay down their lives for you. In fact, one mom told me, “I never thought I could love anyone more than I love my own children. And then I had grandchildren.” So, boys and girls, enjoy your mom’s kisses and love as long as you can, someday you’ll be playing second fiddle to your own kids, whom they will love more than you. Heck, my parents love my dog Apollo more than me. I know my place in my parents’ pecking order of love. Every great love comes with a great kiss, and your moms are living proof.

Have you ever noticed how priests do a lot of kissing at Mass (not kissing people)? We kiss the altar when we first come in. We kiss the book of the gospel, immediately after we read the gospel reading. We kiss the altar again at the end of Mass when we’re about to leave. Why all the kissing at Mass? Because we priests are also caught up in a great love story.

You know, we priests did not become priests because we could not find some hot girl to marry. On the contrary, we are caught up in Jesus’ love story. And because we feel Jesus’ love for us, we try to return that love for him. And our kisses at Mass are symbols of our love for the Lord. That we too are willing and ready to lay down our lives for him, like he did for us.

In a few minutes, when you come up for Holy Communion, the priest will place the Body of Christ on your hands. And, for some Catholics, he will even place Jesus on your tongue. That is a very intimate gesture. And I always think of it like Jesus giving us a kiss every time we come up for Holy Communion.

You know, some people who worry about their weight and eating too much sweet stuff, they say: “A minute on the lips and a lifetime on the hips.” Well, Jesus in Holy Communion is a minute on the lips, and a lifetime in your heart.” Why? Because Holy Communion is when Jesus gives you a kiss. You see, every great love comes with a great kiss.

Praised be Jesus Christ!