Preaching Bernard of Clairvaux: First Kisses and the Ecstasy of Worship

The Bride although she is bold in many things, does not dare say, "Let him kiss me with his mouth," for that is reserved for the Father alone. The kiss of the mouth is the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son. O happy kiss, this wonder of amazing self-humbling is not a mere meeting of the lips but the union of God with humanity in the Word who is Christ. But the Bride asks seemingly something less. "Let him kiss me," she says, "with the kiss of his mouth." The Bride receives her kiss not from the Bridegroom's mouth, but from the kiss of his mouth. It satisfies her to receive the Bridegroom's kiss even though it is not from his mouth. For she thinks it not a small or light thing to be kissed by the kiss, for that is nothing less than to be given the Holy Spirit. Surely if the Father kisses and the Son receives the kiss, it is appropriate to think of the kiss itself as the Holy Spirit, the imperturbable peace of the Father and the Son, their secure bond, their undivided love, their indivisible unity. So when the Bride asks for a kiss she begs to be flooded with this threefold mystery—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—as much as mortal flesh can bear.

We live in a society rife with diminished views of sexual love, certainly from a heavenly perspective. Yet Bernard reminds us that the ecstasies and exhilaration of human love can still point us beyond our own temporary and self-absorbed pleasures deep into the pleasures of a relationship with God. This relationship, Bernard is clear, is one not to be only confessed and comprehended, but felt, enjoyed, and embraced. The God who is love marks His people with love, a love the Song of Songs sings that, " . . . is as strong as death, its passion relentless as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. This love no flood can quench, no torrents drown. Were a man to offer everything he owned to buy it, his offer would be utterly scorned." This relentless love of the Bridegroom for his Bride, this relentless love of Christ for you, may you not only know it, but feel it, respond to it, and gladly exclaim as your soul is knocked loopy by the holiness of it all, "Il est fantastique!"