In our second reading today,
St. Paul exhorts the Corinthian Christians,
“Greet one another with a holy kiss.”
Paul was not simply instructing them on etiquette,
but was referring to the ritual exchange of a kiss
as a part of their gathering for worship.
This is what we today refer to as the “sign of peace,”
though in the early centuries of Christianity
this took the form not of a handshake
or, as has become common
in these post-pandemic days,
a friendly wave,
but of a kiss—a kiss on the lips.
In the ancient world,
to exchange a kiss
was to exchange breath—
what in Greek is pneuma
and which also means “spirit.”
To exchange a kiss, to share breath,
was to share with another
the very force by which one lives
and so to be bound together
(this is one reason we make a big deal
about the kiss between a bride and groom).
Of course, in those early centuries
Christian worship was sexually segregated,
with men on one side of the congregation
and women on the other,
so that men only kissed other men
and women other women;
nevertheless, this practice
raised some eyebrows
and led to rumors
about Christian worship
involving scandalous orgies.
St. Paul exhorts the Corinthian Christians,
“Greet one another with a holy kiss.”
Paul was not simply instructing them on etiquette,
but was referring to the ritual exchange of a kiss
as a part of their gathering for worship.
This is what we today refer to as the “sign of peace,”
though in the early centuries of Christianity
this took the form not of a handshake
or, as has become common
in these post-pandemic days,
a friendly wave,
but of a kiss—a kiss on the lips.
In the ancient world,
to exchange a kiss
was to exchange breath—
what in Greek is pneuma
and which also means “spirit.”
To exchange a kiss, to share breath,
was to share with another
the very force by which one lives
and so to be bound together
(this is one reason we make a big deal
about the kiss between a bride and groom).
Of course, in those early centuries
Christian worship was sexually segregated,
with men on one side of the congregation
and women on the other,
so that men only kissed other men
and women other women;
nevertheless, this practice
raised some eyebrows
and led to rumors
about Christian worship
involving scandalous orgies.
You may be wondering,
what all of this kissing and scandal
and breathing and bonding
has to do with the mystery of the Trinity,
which we celebrate on this day.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux,
in a sermon on the Song of Songs,
sought to explain the verse
in which the bride says
“let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth”
by way of reference to the Holy Trinity.
He wrote: “If, as is properly understood,
the Father is he who kisses,
and the Son he who is kissed,
then it cannot be wrong
to see in the kiss itself the Holy Spirit,
for he is the imperturbable peace
of the Father and the Son,
their unshakable bond,
their undivided love,
their indivisible unity” (Sermon 8.2).
Just as the kiss shared by lovers
is something that
comes forth from them both
and joins them together
in one love,
in one life,
so too the Spirit comes forth
from the Father and from the Son
and is the bond of love in which
they live eternally as one God.
Bernard writes,
“Thus the Father,
when he kisses the Son,
pours into him the plenitude
of the mysteries of his divine being,
breathing forth love’s deep delight” (Sermon 8.6).
If the Holy Spirit is the kiss
uniting Father and Son,
then, according to St. Bernard,
when the bride in the Song of Songs says
“let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth”
it is the soul asking to receive the kiss
shared between Father and Son—
that kiss of imperturbable peace,
unshakeable bond,
undivided love,
and indivisible unity.
Our souls cry out to be united to God
by sharing in the love uniting Father and Son,
the kiss of his mouth that is the Holy Spirit.
But the Spirit that unites Father and Son,
and unites souls to God,
also unites us to each other.
Paul wrote earlier to the Corinthians,
“in one Spirit we were all
baptized into one body” (1 Cor 12:13).
The first Christians believed
that the breath—the pneuma—
that they exchanged in the holy kiss
was nothing less than the Holy Spirit,
which each had received in baptism.
The ritual kiss spoke of peace
because it was the symbolic sharing
of the one Spirit that each had been given.
The kiss they shared with one another
was the kiss of imperturbable peace,
unshakeable bond,
undivided love,
and indivisible unity
that is the Holy Spirit,
the Spirit who with the Father and Son
lives an eternal life of peaceful bliss.
In the liturgy of the Byzantine Church
the peace is exchanged
immediately before the creed is said,
the creed in which we profess
our faith in God as Trinity.
Rather than our own
somewhat pedestrian invitation—
“let us offer each other the sign of peace”—
in the Byzantine liturgy the deacon says.
“Let us love one another,
that with oneness of mind we may confess,”
and the people reply, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
Trinity, consubstantial and undivided.”
To truly confess the Trinity
we must love the Trinity,
and to love the Trinity
we must love one another.
As St. Bernard puts it,
the Spirit as revealer of God’s truth
“not only conveys the light of knowledge
but also lights the fire of love” (Sermon 8.5).
To truly confess the Trinity
is to share with one another
the Spirit we have been given
by using the gifts that the Spirit
has bestowed on us
in service to one another;
it is, as St. Paul tells us today,
to encourage one another,
to agree with one another,
and to live in peace with one another.
I am not suggesting that we start
kissing each other on the mouth
at the sign of peace.
But for us, no less than for the first Christians,
our ritual exchange of peace is a visible sign
of the unity in love that we celebrate
on this Trinity Sunday,
the love that unites Father, Son, and Spirit,
the love that unites our soul to God,
and the love that unites us
within the one body of Christ.
So let us love one another,
that with oneness of mind we may confess
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
Trinity, consubstantial and undivided.
And may God, who is merciful,
have mercy on us all.
kissing each other on the mouth
at the sign of peace.
But for us, no less than for the first Christians,
our ritual exchange of peace is a visible sign
of the unity in love that we celebrate
on this Trinity Sunday,
the love that unites Father, Son, and Spirit,
the love that unites our soul to God,
and the love that unites us
within the one body of Christ.
So let us love one another,
that with oneness of mind we may confess
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
Trinity, consubstantial and undivided.
And may God, who is merciful,
have mercy on us all.
