Sermon 8 – THE HOLY SPIRIT: THE KISS OF THE KISS OF THE MOUTH

 

St Bernard does not lay out as a direct definition “the kiss of the kiss of the mouth.” But rather through a series of scriptural references and his unique understanding of them provides his exposition of “the kiss” and the “kiss of the kiss.”

From Sermon 8

8.1 “As I promised yesterday, and as you well remember, today we are to speak of the supreme kiss, that of the mouth. … I think I should begin by considering the higher truths, and it seems to me that a kiss past comprehension, beyond the experience of any mere creature, was designated by him who said: ‘“No one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the son chooses to reveal him.”[1] …. Now, that mutual knowledge and love between him who begets and him who is begotten – what can it comprise if not a kiss that is utterly sweet, but utterly a mystery as well?

8.2 “For my part I am convinced that no creature, not even an angel, is permitted to comprehend this secret of divine love, so holy and so august. Does not Paul proclaim from his own experience that this is a peace which surpasses all understanding, even that of the angels?[2] And hence the bride, although otherwise so audacious, does not dare to say: ‘“Let him kiss me with his mouth,” for she knows that this is the prerogative of the Father alone. What she does ask for is something less: ‘“Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.” Do you wish to see the newly chosen bride receiving this unprecedented kiss, given not by the mouth but by the kiss of the mouth? Then look at Jesus in the presence of his Apostles: "’He breathed on them,” according to St. John, “’and he said: ‘receive the Holy Spirit.’”[3] That favor, given to the newly chosen Church, was indeed a kiss. That? you say. That corporeal breathing? Oh, no, but rather the invisible Spirit, who is so bestowed in that breath of the Lord that he is understood to proceed from him equally as from the Father,[4] truly the kiss that is common both to him who kisses and to him who is kissed. Hence the bride is satisfied to receive the kiss of the Bridegroom, though she not be kissed with his mouth. For her it is no mean or contemptible thing to be kissed by the kiss because it is nothing less than the gift of the Holy Spirit. If, as is properly understood, The Father is he who kisses, the Son he who is kissed, then it cannot be wrong to see in the kiss the Holy Spirit, for he is the imperturbable peace of the Father and the Son, their unshakable bond, their undivided love, their indivisible unity."

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER FOUR - THE WORKS OF BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX Volume Two - Song of Songs I

---

[1] Mt 11:27     [2] Phil 4:7     [3] Jn 20:22     [4] Jn 15:26      

Your name is oil poured out Song 1:2

from Sermon 18

“Your name is oil poured out.”[1] Of what truth of our interior life does the Holy Spirit wish to assure us by means of this text? He refers to the experience of a twofold operation, one by which he inwardly strengthens the virtues that lead to salvation, the other by which he outwardly endows us with serviceable gifts. The former benefit is of to ourselves, the latter to our neighbors.

…. And these operations of the Holy Spirit … are named from their method of functioning: we call them infusion and effusion. To which of them may we suitably apply the words: ”Your name is oil poured out”? Is it not to effusion?[2]

See how precious the graces that must be infused, so that when we venture to pour them out we may dispense them from a spirit that is filled rather than impoverished. We need first of all compunction of heart, then fervor of spirit; thirdly, the labor of penance; fourthly, works of charity; fifthly, zeal for prayer; sixthly leisure for contemplation; seventhly love in all its fullness. [6] All these are the work of one and the same Spirit,[3] accomplished by the process called infusion; and in so far as it has taken place those services called effusion can be truly and hence safely performed to the praise and the glory of our Lord, Jesus Christ,[4] who with the Father and the same Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, for ever and ever. Amen.[5]

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER FOUR - THE WORKS OF BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX Volume Two - Song of Songs I

---

[1] Song 1:2

[2] Sermon 18.1

[3] 1 Cor 12:11

[4] Phil 1:11

[5] Sermon 18.6

[6] Bold italics added

INTIMACIES OF THE LOVE OF GOD

 

St Bernard expounds on the metaphor of bridegroom and bride.

Sermon 7: INTIMACIES OF THE LOVE OF GOD: THEIR EXPRESSION IN PRAYER AND IN THE PSALMS

2. “Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth,”[1] she said. Now who is this “she”? The bride. But why bride? Because she is the soul thirsting for God … the one who asks for a kiss, she is a lover. Among all the natural endowments of man love holds first place, especially when it is directed toward God, who is the source whence it comes. No sweeter names can be found to embody that sweet interflow of affections between the Word and the soul, than bridegroom and bride. Between these all things are equally shared, there are no selfish reservations, nothing that causes division. They share the same inheritance, the same table, the same home, the same marriage-bed, they are flesh of each other’s flesh. … Therefore if a love relationship is the special and outstanding characteristic of the bride and groom, it is not unfitting to call the soul that loves God a bride. Now one who asks for a kiss is in love. It is not for liberty that she asks, nor for an award, not for an inheritance nor even knowledge, but for a kiss. It   is obviously the request of a bride who is chaste, who breathes forth a love that is holy. A love whose ardor she cannot entirely disguise. For note how abruptly she bursts into speech. About to ask a great favor from a great personage, she does not resort as others do, to the arts of seduction, she makes no devious or fawning solicitations for the prize that she covets. There is no preamble, no attempt to conciliate favor. No, but with a spontaneous outburst from the abundance of her heart, direct even to the point of boldness, she says: "let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth."

3. Does not this seem to you to indicate that she wished to say: "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides you."[2]

Her love is surely chaste when it seeks the person whom she loves, and not some other thing of his. It is a holy love, the impulse of an upright spirit rather than of carnal desire. And it is an ardent love, blinded by its own access to the majesty of the beloved. For what are the facts? He is the one at whose glance the earth trembles,[3] and does she demand that he give her a kiss? Can she be possibly drunk? Absolutely drunk! And the reason? It seems most probable that when she uttered those passionate words she had just come out from the seller of wine;[4] afterword she boasts of having been there. David in his turn cried out to God concerning people such as the bride: "They shall be inebriated with the plenty of your house; and you will make them drink of the torrent of your pleasure.”[5] How great this power of love: what great confidence and freedom of spirit! What is more manifest than that fear is driven out by perfect love![6]

 CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER FOUR - THE WORKS OF BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX Volume Two - Song of Songs I

---

[1] Song 1:1

[2] Ps.72:27

[3] Ps.104:32

[4] Song1:3; 2:4

[5] .Ps 36:9

[6] 1 Jn 4:18

The Second Kiss - The Kiss of the Hands

Once the fear of the Lord, that instills the need for penitence, and the hope, that the mercy of the Lord will prevail over that judgement, have been recognized, the lover of the Lord must find the means to persevere in his conversion. St. Bernard presents the gift of perseverance as “the kiss of the hands”.

from Sermon 3.3-5 The Kiss of the Hands

3. Though you have made a beginning by kissing the feet, you may not presume to rise at once by impulse to the kiss of the mouth; there is a step to be surmounted in between, an intervening kiss on the hand for which I offer the following explanation.

…  I recall that he who healed me said to me as he exercised his mercy: "Now you are well again, be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.” Jn. 5:14   He, however, who gave me the grace to repent, must also give me the power to persevere, lest by repeating my sins I should end up by being worse than I was before.  Lk. 11:26 Woe to me then, repentant though I be, if he without whom I can do nothing should suddenly withdraw his supporting hand. I really mean nothing of myself I can achieve neither repentance nor perseverance.

4. I am now able to see what I must seek for and receive before I may hope to attain to a higher and holier state. Mt. 7:8 I do not wish to be suddenly on the heights, my desire is to advance by degrees.

….  It is a long and formidable leap from the foot to the mouth, a manner of approach that is not commendable. Consider for a moment: still tarnished as you are with the dust of sin, would you dare touch those sacred lips? Yesterday you were lifted from the mud, today you wish to encounter the glory of his face? No, his hand must be your guide to that end. First it must cleanse your stains, then it must raise you up. How raise you? By giving you the grace to dare to aspire. You wonder what this may be. I see it as the grace of the beauty of temperance and the fruits that befit repentance, the works of the religious man. These are the instruments that will lift you from the dunghill and cause your hopes to soar. On receiving such a grace then, you must kiss his hand, that is, you must give glory to his name, not to yourself. First of all you must glorify him because he has forgiven your sins, secondly because he has adorned you with virtues.

5. Once you have had this twofold experience of God's benevolence in these two kisses, you need no longer feel abashed in aspiring to a holier intimacy. Growth in grace brings expansion of confidence. You will love with greater ardor, and knock on the door with greater assurance, in order to gain what you perceive to be still wanting to you. ''The one who knocks will always have the door opened to him.”

 CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER FOUR - THE WORKS OF BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX Volume Two - Song of Songs I

The Three Kisses - The First - The kiss of the feet

Thus says the Lord: The heavens are my throne, the earth, my footstool. Is.66:1

The kiss of the Feet

“However, I must not omit to speak of those spiritual feet of God to which the penitent’s first kiss, understood in a spiritual sense, ought to be directed. … it should not seem unreasonable to us to ascribe the feet to his humanity. Let us call one of these feet mercy, the other judgement. … With these very feet he finds his way into the souls of his lovers, tirelessly enlightening and searching the hearts and the loins of the faithful.” Ser 6:6-7

“Happy is the man then whose soul the Lord Jesus once sets these feet of his. There are two signs by which you may recognize such a one, for he cannot but bear upon him the imprint of these divine footsteps. These signs are fear and hope, the former presenting the imprint of judgement, the latter that of mercy. Truly, the Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him, and in them that hope in his mercy, for fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, hope the growth of wisdom. … It is clearly inexpedient to kiss the one without the other; a man who thinks only of the judgement will fall into the pit of despair, another who deceitfully flatters God’s mercy gives birth to a pernicious security.” Ser.6:8

“But you know what a teacher experience is; no longer of judgement alone or mercy alone, but of mercy and judgement I will sing to you, O Lord. I shall never forget your precepts, mercy and judgement will be the theme of my songs in the house of my pilgrimage, until one day when mercy triumphs over judgement, my wretchedness will cease to smart, and my heart, silent no longer, will sing to you. It will be the end of sorrow.” Ser. 6:9

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER FOUR - THE WORKS OF BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX Volume Two - Song of Songs I

"Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth," - Song of Songs 1:2

Here follows one of the senses of the "kiss" that St Bernard preachs on. One is struck by the audacity of St. Bernard in his dismissal of the prophets, of all people, Moses. Similar sentiments are echoed in The Imitation of Christ, Book 3.2

St. Bernard's eloquence shines in this passage.

Sermon 2, Paragraph 2 on the Song of Songs

 2. The conscientious man of those days might repeat to himself: "Of what use to me the wordy effusions of the prophets? Rather let him who is the most handsome of the sons of men, 5 let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth. No longer am I satisfied to listen to Moses, for he is a slow speaker and not able to speak well. Isaiah is 'a man of unclean lips, 7 Jeremiah does not know how to speak, he is a child; 8 not one of the prophets makes an impact on me with his words. But he, the one whom they proclaim, let him speak to me, ‘let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.' I have no desire that he should approach me in their person, or address me with their words, for they are 'a watery darkness, a dense cloud';9 rather in his own person 'let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth'; let him whose presence is full of love, from whom exquisite doctrines flow in streams, let him become 'a spring inside me, welling up to eternal life.'10 Shall I not receive a richer infusion of grace from him whom the Father has anointed with the oil of gladness above all his rivals,11 provided that he will bestow on me the kiss of his mouth? For his living, active word12 is to me a kiss, not indeed an adhering of the lips that can sometimes belie a union of hearts, but an unreserved infusion of joys, a revealing of mysteries, a marvelous and indistinguishable mingling of the divine light with the enlightened mind, which, joined in truth to God, is one spirit with him.18 With good reason then I avoid trucking with visions and dreams; I want no part with parables and figures of speech; even the very beauty of the angels can only leave me wearied. For my Jesus utterly surpasses these in his majesty and splendor.14 Therefore I ask of him what I ask of neither man nor angel: that he kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.

 

7. Is 6:5.       8. Jn 1:6.         9. Ps17:12         10. Jn 4:14.     11. Ps 44:8     12 Heb 4:12 

13. 1 Cor 6:17.          14. Ps 44:5

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER FOUR - THE WORKS OF BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX Volume Two - Song of Songs I