"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