Sermon VIII. On the Kiss of the Mouth Interpreted of the Holy Spirit

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

To-day, my brethren, in fulfilment of the promise made in my last sermon, I purpose to speak more particularly of the supreme kiss, that is to say, of the kiss of the Mouth.¹ And as this kiss is sweeter than the other two, viz., those of the Feet and of the Hand, more rarely enjoyed, and more difficult to comprehend, the present discourse demands from you a more than ordinary attention. To begin on a level more lofty than usual, it appears to me that He Who said, "No one knoweth the Son but the Father, neither doth anyone know the Father but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal Him," by these Words designated a kind of kiss which is altogether ineffable and incommunicable to any creature. "For the Father loveth the Son" and embraces Him with an infinite affection, as the Supreme His Co-equal, the Eternal His Co-Eternal, the One His Only-Begotten. But not less for Him is the love of the Son, Who even died for the love of the Father, as He Himself testifies when He says, "That all may know that I love the Father, arise, let us go." He spoke evidently of going to His Passion. Now, what is that mutual love and knowledge between Father and Son but a most sweet and incomprehensible kiss?

I, at any rate, hold it as certain that no creature, not excepting even the angels, is admitted to a comprehension of this secret of love, so great and so holy. St. Paul was of the same mind when he affirmed that this "peace surpasseth all understanding," the angelic understanding included. Hence not even the Spouse, although otherwise daring enough, would yet venture to say, "let Him kiss me with His Mouth" for she reserved that to the Father. But she asks for something less in the request, "Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His Mouth." Do you wish to behold this new Spouse receiving the new kiss, not from the Mouth, but from "the Kiss of His mouth"? "He breathed on them," says the Evangelist, namely, Jesus on the apostles, that is, on the primitive Church, "and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Assuredly that Was a kiss. What? The corporeal exhalation? No, my brethren, but the invisible Spirit. And the reason Why He was communicated by the Lord's breathing was this, in order that we should understand that He proceeds from the Son in like manner as from the Father, being truly a Divine Kiss, common to the Mouth That kisses and the Mouth That is kissed. Consequently, it is enough for the Spouse to be kissed "with the Kiss" of the Bridegroom, without being kissed with His Mouth. For it is no small thing, nor a matter deserving of but slight esteem, to be kissed with that Kiss, namely, to receive an infusion of the Holy Spirit. This should not seem fanciful; because if I am right in regarding the Father as the Mouth That kisses, and the Son as the Mouth That is kissed, I cannot be very far wrong in understanding by the Kiss Itself the Divine Spirit, Who is the imperturbable Peace of the Father and Son, the everlasting Bond, the undivided Love, the indivisible Unity.

It is, therefore, with regard to Him that the Spouse is so venturesome, and she confidently asks, using the image of a kiss, that He would deign to infuse Himself into her heart. If she is so daring, it is because she has heard something which appears to encourage her presumption. For has she not heard the Son saying, "No one knoweth the Son but the Father, neither doth any one know the Father but the Son," and adding, "and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal Him"? But she has no doubt that the Bridegroom Would be pleased to make this revelation to His Bride before all others. Hence she boldly asks a kiss, that is, the Holy Spirit, in Whom are revealed both the Father and the Son. One, indeed, cannot be known Without the Other. Hence the Lord said, "He who seeth Me seeth My Father also." And St. John, "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; he that confesseth the Son, hath also the Father." From this it is evident that neither the Father can be known without the Son, nor the Son without the Father. Rightly, then, is supreme felicity made to consist, not in the knowledge of One or Other, but of Both, by Him Who says, "This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent." Finally, those who follow the Lamb are said to have His name and the name of the Father written on their foreheads, which means that they rejoice in the knowledge of Both.

But some one may here object and say, "Therefore the knowledge of the Holy Ghost is not essential to our happiness, because when Christ declared that eternal life consisted in knowing the Father and the Son, He said nothing of the Third Person." Nothing explicitly, I grant you. But when the Father and the Son are perfectly known, known also must assuredly be the Holy Spirit, Who is the common Goodness of the Two. Even one human being cannot be fully known to another so long as it is uncertain whether his disposition is good or evil. Yet even when the Saviour said, "This is eternal life that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent," if this mission demonstrates the good- will both of the Father, Who so lovingly sent His Son, and of the Son, Who so freely obeyed His Father, even then, I say, He was not silent respecting the Spirit, for He made mention of that infinite Loving-kindness common to Both. And is not the Holy Ghost the Love and the Kindness of Father and Son?

Consequently, the Spouse, in requesting a kiss, prays for the grace of this threefold knowledge, so much, at least, as is possible for her to receive whilst still in the flesh. And she asks this of the Son to Whom it belongs to reveal the Father "to whomsoever it shall please Him." The Son, therefore, reveals both Himself and His Father to such as He pleases. But the revelation is made by a Kiss, that is, by the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle witnesses, when he says, "But to us God hath revealed Them by His Spirit." Now in giving the Spirit by Whom He reveals the Father and Son, He also reveals the Spirit Himself. He reveals by giving, and by revealing He gives.² Besides, the revelation which is made by the Holy Spirit not only communicates the light of knowledge, but also enkindles the flames of love. Hence the words of St. Paul, "The charity of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost Who is given to us." And perhaps this is the reason why, with regard to those, who "knowing God, did not glorify Him as God," we do not read that they got their knowledge by revelation of the Holy Ghost. Because, namely, their knowledge Was not accompanied by love. The Apostle simply says, "for God had manifested it unto them," and does not add "by His Spirit." Otherwise, the kiss, which is the privilege of the Spouse, Would be usurped by impious souls, who, content with the knowledge that "puffeth up," are unconcerned for the charity that "edifieth." But St. Paul himself shall tell us whence they derived their knowledge of God. They "perceived" Him, he says, "by the things that are made, being understood." Hence it is manifest that they could not have known Him perfectly Whom they loved not at all. For had they possessed such perfect knowledge, they surely would not have been ignorant of that infinite goodness wherewith He willed to be born in the flesh and to die for their redemption. Hear now what attributes of God were revealed to them: "His eternal power also and Divinity." You see how, in the presumption of a spirit not divine but human, they investigated His attributes of sublimity and majesty, but failed to understand that He was "meek and humble of Heart."' This should not surprise us, since Behemoth, their chief, "sees everything high," as is Written of him, but nothing that is lowly. David, on the contrary, would not "Walk in great matters nor in wonderful things above" him, lest, as a "searcher into majesty,"* he should "be overwhelmed by glory."

Do you, also, my brethren, if you Would pick your steps cautiously amidst such nrysteries of truth, ever bear in mind the counsel of the Wise Man, "Seek not the things that are too high for thee, and search not into things above thy ability." In matters of this nature, walk in the Spirit, not by the light of your own intelligence. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit does not excite curiosity, but rather enkindles charity. Justly, therefore, does the Spouse, in seeking Him "Whom her soul loveth," refuse to put her trust in the senses of the flesh, or to be satisfied with the vain reasonings of human curiosity. But she solicits a kiss, that is, she invokes the Holy Spirit from Whom she shr.ll obtain both the food of knowledge and the seasoning of grace. That is true knowledge which is imparted by means of a kiss, and is accepted with love, because a kiss is the token of love, Consequently, the "knowledge" which "puffeth up," which is unaccompanied by charity, does not proceed from a kiss. But neither can this kiss of love be claimed by those who indeed "have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." For the grace of the kiss communicates at once both the light of knowledge and the warmth of love. It is in truth "the Spirit of wisdom and understanding," Who, like the bee bearing wax and honey, has wherewith to light the lamp of knowledge and to infuse the sweetness of devotion. Wherefore, let not him who has understanding of truth without love, nor him who has love without understanding, ever imagine he has received this kiss. With it error and coldness are alike incompatible. So, for the reception of the twofold grace of this all-holy kiss, let the Spouse on her part get ready her two lips, namely, her intelligence for "understanding," and her will for "wisdom." Thus, glorying in a perfect kiss, she will deserve to hear these words of consolation, "Grace is poured abroad on thy Hps, therefore hath God blessed thee for ever." Accordingly, the Father, when kissing His Son, "uttereth" most fully to Him the secrets of His Divinity. This Holy Scripture indicates to us by the words, "Day to Day uttereth speech." But this eternal and divinely- sweet embrace it is given to no creature whatsoever to behold, as I have already remarked, the Holy Spirit, common to Father and Son, being the sole witness and confidant of Their mutual knowledge and love. "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath Him his counsellor?"

But perchance some one will say to me: "How then hast thou come to know what thou confessest has been revealed to no creature?" I have an obvious answer. "The Only- Begotten, Who is in the Bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him," not indeed to me, miserable and unworthy as I am, but to the holy Baptist, the "friend of the Bridegroom," whose words these are. And not only to him, but also to St. John the Evangelist, as being "the disciple whom Jesus loved." For his soul, too, was pleasing to God, truly worthy both of the name and of the dowry of a spouse, worthy of the embrace of the Bridegroom, even worthy of the privilege of reclining on the Bosom of the Lord. St. John derived from the Heart of the Only-Begotten, what He derived from His Father's, but not the Evangelist alone. The same is true of all to whom "the Angel of the Great Counsel" addressed the words, "I have called you friends, because all things Whatsoever I have heard of my Father I have made known to you." From the same Heart was derived the knowledge of St. Paul who received his Gospel "not from man, nor through man, but by revelation from Jesus Christ." Most certainly, all these could say with as much joy as veracity, "The Only-Begotten, Who is in the Bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." And what, my brethren, was this "declaration" but a kiss bestowed on them? Yet it was the kiss of the Kiss, not the Kiss of the Mouth. Listen: "I and the Father are One" — there you have the Kiss of the Mouth. Also here, "I am in the Father and the Father in Me." This is the Kiss from Mouth to Mouth. But let no creature presume to claim It. It is a Kiss of love and of peace. But that love "surpasseth all knowledge," as that peace "surpasseth all understanding." Nevertheless, what "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man," that God revealed to St. Paul by His Spirit, that is, by "the Kiss of His Mouth." Therefore, the mutual Indwelling of the Son in the Father and of the Father in the Son is the Kiss of the Mouth. The kiss of the Kiss is that of which We read, "For we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit That is of God that we may know the things that are given us from God."

In order to make the distinction clearer, I say that He, Who receives the plenitude, receives the Kiss of the Mouth; and he, who receives of the plenitude, receives the kiss of the Kiss. A great saint indeed is Paul. Yet however high he can raise his mouth, although he can reach up to the third heaven, he can never attain to the Lips of the Most High. Let him be content with his own measure, and as he cannot mount to that "Face of glory," let him humbly pray that It would stoop to his level and send down a kiss from above. But He, Who "thought it not robbery to be equal With God," so that He could say, "I and the Father are One," as He is associated with the Father as an Equal, embraces Him also as an Equal, and, instead of soliciting a kiss from a lower level, at an equal elevation presses Mouth to Mouth, thus, by a singular prerogative, receiving the Kiss of the Mouth. Christ's Kiss, consequently, is the plenitude, Paul's but a participation. The Master can boast of having obtained the Kiss of the Mouth; the disciple the kiss of the Kiss.

Yet happy is that kiss of participation whereby we not only know God, but also love the Father, Who, without doubt, is not fully known until He is perfectly loved. My brethren, is there amongst you one who sometimes, in the depths of his heart, hears the Spirit of the Son "crying Abba, Father"? If such there be, let him feel assured of the love of the Father, for he has the testimony of his own conscience that he is led by the same Spirit as the Son. O soul who art such, whosoever thou be, have courage, have confidence, and fear nothing. In the Spirit of Christ thou canst recognise thyself as the daughter of the Father and as the spouse and sister of the Son. Spouse and sister, both these titles may be found applied in Sacred Scripture to the soul that is such. This I can show without much labour. Thus, the Bridegroom says to His Bride, "I am come into My garden, O My Sister, My Spouse." She is a Sister as having the same Father, a Spouse as having the same Spirit. If carnal matrimony unites two in one flesh, why should not spiritual nuptials have greater efficacy to conjoin two in one Spirit? Moreover,we have the testimony of St. Paul that "He that cleaveth to God is one Spirit." But hear also from the Father how lovingly and how condescendingly He calls the faithful soul His daughter, and yet invites her as the bride of His Son to the embraces of that Son: "Hear, O daughter! and see, and incline thine ear, and forget thy people and thy father's house, and the King shall desire thy beauty." Behold from Whom this spouse demands a kiss. O happy soul! take care and be reverent, because He is the Lord Thy God, perhaps not so much to be kissed as to be adored with the Father and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever. Amen.

Footnotes

1. Elsewhere the Saint writes: "I'm sure no person of prudence will find fault with me for giving various interpretations of the same text, provided I say nothing contrary to tru.h. For charity, which every part of Holy Scripture is intended to subserve, will be able to accomplish its work of edification all the more efficaciously in proportion to the number of apt expositions discoverable for each passage. Why should we condemn in scriptural exegesis what we are constantly doing in the use of other things? How many are the purposes for which water, v.g., is employed! In the same way, from any text of Scripture it is possible to extract a variety of true s gnifications, adapted to the necessity or use of different souls." — (Translator.) ↩

2. "Dando revelat et dat revelando." St. Bernard is very fond of such inverted expressions. — (Translator.) ↩