Sermons on the Song of Songs

O “Root of Jesse, Who standest for an Ensign of the people!” How many kings and prophets have desired to see Thee and have not seen! Happier than all was Simeon whose “old age was crowned with abundant mercy.” He exulted in the hope of seeing the Pledge of his desire: “he saw It and rejoiced,” and having received the kiss of peace, departed in peace, first proclaiming, however, that Jesus was born as “a Sign which should be contradicted.” And his prophecy was justified in the event. Scarcely had the Sign of peace appeared when It met with contradiction from those, namely, who hate peace. To men of good will It brought true peace, but to the wicked It became “a rock of scandal and a stone of stumbling.” So we read, “Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him,” because “Jesus came unto His own and His own received Him not.” Happy the shepherds, in their nightly watch, who were accounted worthy to behold this Sign! Already was He beginning to hide Himself from the wise and prudent and to reveal Himself to the little ones. Herod also desired to see Him, but not being a man of good will, he did not deserve to have his desire gratified; for the Sign of peace, that is, Jesus, was given only to men of good will. No sign shall be offered to men like Herod “but the sign of Jonas the Prophet.” “And this,” said the angel to the shepherds, “shall be a Sign to you”—to you who are humble, to you who are obedient, who are not high-minded, who are vigilant, who “meditate day and night on the law of God.” “This,” he said, “shall be a Sign to you.” What? That which angels have promised, which peoples have asked for, which prophets have foretold—that the Lord hath now brought to pass and showeth to you. It is the Sign which will bring faith to the incredulous, hope to the despairing, perseverance to the perfect. “This, therefore, shall be a Sign to you.” But a Sign of what? A Sign of pardon, a Sign of grace, a Sign of peace that shall have no end. “This,” then, “shall be a Sign to you, you shall find the Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes.” Yes, indeed, but in this Infant you shall find the Great Almighty reconciling the world to Himself. “He is to die for your sins and to rise again for your justification, that justified through faith, you may have peace towards God.” This is the Sign of peace which the prophet of old desired King Achaz to ask of the Lord his God, “whether in heaven above or in hell beneath.” But the impious monarch refused, miserably disbelieving that in this Sign the lowest depths and the highest heights were to be united in peace. This will be accomplished when Christ, descending into hell, salutes the dwellers there, and to them also gives the pledge of peace in a holy kiss; and returning thence to heaven, admits the blessed spirits above to the same embrace in everlasting sweetness.

Here I must bring my discourse to an end. But permit me to close with a brief recapitulation. It is evident, then, that this holy Kiss is a necessary condescension to the world, for two reasons: firstly, in order to fortify the faith of the weak; secondly, in order to gratify the desires of the perfect. It is also plain, I hope, that this mystical Kiss is nothing else than the Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, Who, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.