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."
No comments:
Post a Comment