Sermon VII. On the Love of the Spouse, and on the Attention Due to the Word of God

"Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His Mouth."

I have brought trouble upon myself, my brethren, by needlessly exciting your pious curiosity. Because, in connexion with the first kiss, I was at pains to explain, and at unnecessary length, the spiritual Feet of the Lord, with their special names and significations, you are now anxious for an explanation of the Hand which, as I have said, must be kissed in the second place. Well, I am not unwilling to gratify youi wishes. Nay, I will speak not of one Hand, but of two, and will give to each its proper name. Let the one be called Liberality, the other Fortitude. With the former God gives abundantly, with the latter He protects what He has bestowed. If We are not to be reputed ingrates, we shall kiss both, by acknowledging and proclaiming Him, not only as the Author of all good, but as the Preserver of the same. Let this suffice for the first and the second kiss. We must now proceed to the consideration of the third.

"Let Him kiss me," she says, "with the kiss of His Mouth." Who is she that makes the request? It is the Spouse. But who is this Spouse? The Spouse here, my brethren, is the soul that thirsts after God. I will now run over the various species and manifestations of human affection or disposition, in order that you may the more clearly perceive which one

I. 49 d appertains to the Spouse. If thou be a slave, thou dost fear the face of thy lord; if thou be a mercenary, thou dost hope to receive thine hire at his hands; if thou be a disciple, thou dost attend to the instructions of thy master; if thou be a son? thou dost honour him who is thy father; but if thou be a lover, thou wilt ask thy beloved for a kiss. Amongst the natural emotions of the human soul, this affection of love holds the first place, especially when it reverts to its first Principle, which is God. No words can be found sweet enough to convey an idea of the tenderness of the mutual affection of the Divine Word and the soul, except the names Bridegroom and Bride. 'For persons so related have all things in common. Nothing can be either appropriated to the one or sequestered from the other. They must have one and the same inheritance, one and the same hearth and home, one and the same table, in a word, they are one and the same flesh. So it is written, "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, for they shall be two in one flesh." And the Bride, on her side, is commanded to "forget her people and her father's house" in order that the Bridegroom may "desire her beauty." Since, therefore, love belongs especially and chiefly to persons espoused, the name of Spouse or Bride may justly be given to the soul that loves God. Now, the soul that asks a kiss is the soul that loves. She petitions not for liberty, not for a reward, not for an inheritance, not even for knowledge, but only for a kiss. And this request she makes after the manner of a most chaste spouse, burning with a most holy love, and altogether powerless to conceal the flame which consumes her. See with what impatient abruptness she begins her speech. Although she is about to solicit a great privilege from a great Personage, she does not, as others are wont to do in similar circumstances, make use of the arts of blandishments; she does not approach her object by any winding ways or circumlocutions. There is no preface, no attempt to conciliate favour. From the abundance of her heart, without shame or shyness, she breaks out with the eager request, "Let Him kiss me With the kiss of His Mouth." Does she not seem to you to say clearly, "What have I in heaven and besides Thee, What do I desire upon earth?" Assuredly, she loves with a pure love, who seeks nothing of Him Whom she loves, but only Himself. She loves with a holy love, because her love springs not from the passions of the flesh, but from the purity of the Spirit. She loves With an ardent love who is so inebriated with love as to lose sight of the Majesty of her Beloved. What! "He looketh upon the earth and maketh it tremble," and she dares to ask that He should kiss her! Is she not manifestly intoxicated? No doubt of it. And perchance when she cried out thus impetuously she had just come forth from the "wine-cellar," into which, namely, she afterwards boasts of having been introduced. So David, speaking of certain souls, said to God, "They shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy house, and Thou shall make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure." Oh, how mighty is the power of Jove! How great confidence in liberty of spirit! What can be plainer than that perfect love "casteth out fear"?

Yet from modesty she addresses her request, not to the Spouse Himself, but to others, as it were, in His absence. "Let Him kiss me," she exclaims, "with the kiss of His Mouth." An extraordinary petition, to be sure, and one needing the companionship of modesty to commend the petitioner. Consequently she seeks through domestics and familiars for admission to the sanctuary, and access to the Object of her love. But who, my brethren, are these domestics and familiars? We believe that the holy angels stand near us when we pray and offer to God our petitions and desires. But only when they see us lifting up pure hands to heaven, without any feelings of anger or dissension in our hearts. This is evident from. the words of the Angel to Tobias:

"When thou didst pray with tears, and didst buiy the dead, and didst leave thy dinner, and hide the dead by day in thy house and bury them by night, I offered thy prayer to the Lord." The same, as I think, can be also sufficiently established by other passages from Scripture. Thus, that the angels, by condescension, are even wont to associate themselves with us when we are singing psalms to the Lord, is clearly indicated by the Prophet, where he says, "Princes went before joined with singers, in the midst of young damsels playing on timbrels." Hence also his words, "In the sight of the angels I will sing to Thee." It is, therefore, a cause of grief to me that some of you allow 3'ourselves to be oppressed with a heavy drowsiness during the holy vigils, and so fail in reverence for these citizens of heaven, appearing as dead men in the presence of the princes. Whenever they are attracted by your fervent alacrity, they take great pleasure in assisting at our solemnities. But I fear, lest, disgusted at your sloth, they may sometimes retire¹ in anger, and then, all too late, each of you should begin to say to God with tears, "Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me: they have set me an abomination to themselves." Also, "Friend and neighbour Thou hast put far from me, and my acquaintance, because of my misery." Likewise, "My friends and my neighbours have drawn near and stood against me, and they that were near me stood afar off, and they that sought my soul used violence." For if the good angels withdraw from us, who will be able to resist the assaults of the malignant? I say, therefore, to him who thus yields to sloth, "cursed be he that doth the work of God negligently." And it is not I but the Lord Who says, "I would thou wert cold or hot, but because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My

Mouth." Be attentive, then, my brethren, to these angelic princes, when you are engaged in prayer or psalmody; comport yourselves with reverence and modesty, and glory in the knowledge that your angels daily "see the Face of your Father." Being "sent to minister for them that shall receive the inheritance of salvation," they ascend to God to offer Him our devotions, and return to us laden with His graces. Let us profit by the ministrations of those celestial spirits who honour us with their company, so that praise may be "perfected out of the mouths of infants and sucklings." Let us say to them, "Sing praises to ourGod, sing ye," and let us hear them, in turn, answering, "Sing praises to our King, sing ye."

Since, therefore, it is your privilege to sing the praises of God in common with the heavenly choristers, as being "fellow-citizens with the saints and domestics of God," "sing ye wisely." As sweet food is pleasing to the palate, so is a psalm to the heart. Only let the devout and prudent soul be careful to grind it with the teeth of her intelligence, if I may use the expression, and not gulp it down whole and unmasticated, for otherwise the spiritual palate cannot enjoy the taste, pleasant and "sweet above honey and the honeycomb." Let us offer Christ a honey-comb, like the Apostles, at the celestial banquet and the table of the Lord. Just as the honey is found in the comb, so should devotion be felt in the words, f or "the letter killeth" if swallowed down without this seasoning of the Spirit. But if, like St. Paul, you "sing in the spirit, and sing also with the understanding," you, too, shall recognise the truth of what Jesus said, "The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and life." You shall likewise understand the saying of Wisdom, "My Spirit is sweet above honey." So "shall your soul be delighted in fatness," and "your whole burnt-offering be made fat." So shall you appease the King, and gain the favour of His princes, and secure to yourselves the good will of all the heavenly court. The blessed above, "smelling a sweet savour" in heaven, shall say of you also, "Who is she that goeth up by the desert as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer?" As David sings, "The princes of Juda are their leaders, the princes of Zabulon, the princes of Nephthali." That is to say, the angels act as leaders for those who sing the praises of God, who observe continence, and are given to divine contemplation. For well do these our princes know how pleasing to their King are the laudation of our psalmody, the constancy of our temperance, and the purity of our contemplation. Hence they are careful to demand from us such first-fruits of the Spirit, which are really nothing else than the first and fairest fruits of wisdom. You are aware, of course, that Juda s;gnifies in the Hebrew "one praising or confessing," Zabulon "the dwelling of strength," and Nephthali "the stag set free." The stag, indeed, by reason of his agility and powers of leaping, is a figure which admirably expresses the spiritual ecstasies of the contemplative. Also, just as that animal is wont to penetrate the shadows of the forest, so is the contemplative accustomed to pierce through the obscurity of mystical meanings.

We know, too, my brethren, Who it was that said, "The sacrifice of praise shall honour Me." But as "praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner," is it not of absolute necessity that it should be accompanied by the virtue of continence, which will secure that "sin shall not reign in your mortal body "? Yet that continence which seeks human glory, has no merit in the eyes of God. Indispensably necessary, therefore, is purity of intention, whereby the soul has the wish to please Him alone and the power to unite herself to Him closely. Now, to be united to God is simply to see God, and this is granted only to the clean of heart, as their special prerogative. A clean heart had the Prophet David, who said to the Lord, "My soul hath stuck close to Thee,' ' and, "But it is good for me to cleave to God." By seeing he cleaved, and he saw by cleaving. To the soul, then, that is Well exercised in the virtues just mentioned, the messengers of heaven manifest themselves familiarly and frequently, particularly if they observe her to be assiduous at prayer. Who will grant me that my "petitions may be made known to the household of God "through your mediation, O benevolent princes!² Not merely to God, for to Him even "the thought of man confesseth," but to the household of God, so as to include also those who dwell with Him, both blessed angels and beatified souls of men. I am "needy" — who Will "raise "me "up from the earth "? lam" poor "—who will "lift "me "up out of the dung-hill," that so "I may sit with princes and hold the throne of glory "? Yet I doubt not they will gladly introduce into the palace one whom they condescend to visit even on the "dunghill." And if they rejoice at our conversion, can they despise us when we have been exalted in glory?

In my opinion, therefore, it is these ministering spirits to whom the Spouse, in her prayer, addresses herself and opens her heart, as being the domestics and friends of the Bridegroom, when she says, "Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His Mouth." And notice the familiar and friendly conversation of a soul still imprisoned in the flesh, with these celestial powers. She is eager to be kissed; she asks what she desires; yet she does not name Him Whom she loves. The reason is that she feels sure they do not require to be told, since He is the ordinary subject of conversation between herself and them. Hence she does not say, "Let this or that one kiss me," but only f,< Let Him kiss me." So, Mary Magdalen did not mention by name Him Whom she was seeking, but merely said to the Stranger Whom she believed to be the gardener, "Sir, if thou hast taken Him away." Taken whom? She does not specify, because she thought that what her own heart could not for a moment forget, must be equally present to the thoughts of every one. In the same manner the Spouse, speaking to the companions of the Bridegroom, to whom, as she was aware, her secret was known, suppressed her Beloved's name, and broke out abruptly with the request, "Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His Mouth." About this kiss, my brethren, I will say no more to-day. But in to-morrow's discourse you shall hear whatever thereon, in answer to your prayer, the grace of the Holy Spirit, Who teacheth all things, shall further inspire me with. For it is not by flesh and blood that this secret is revealed, but by the Holy Ghost, "Who searcheth the deep things of God," Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, and liveth and reigneth with Them for evermore. Amen.

Footnotes

1. Commenting on these words, Blessed Albert the Great tells us not to understand them as signifying that men are some- times abandoned by their angel guardians, in punishment of their infidelities. St. Bernard, he says, only means that sin may render our angels less zealous or less efficacious in assisting us. Similarly, Suarez, De Angelis, Bk. VI. chap. xvii. — (Translator.) ↩

2. It may be worth while to mention here a vision once vouchsafed to the Servant of God. During the office of Matins he beheld an angel standing beside each religious and recording the merit of his devotion. Some were writing in gold, some in silver, others in ink, and others again in water. This distinction, he was given to understand, symbolised variety in degrees of fervour. — (Translator.) ↩