16. But how can the Jew have this kiss? For as he believed not in His Advent, so neither did he believe in His Passion, for how can that man believe that He suffered, who believes not that He came? Hence the Pharisee had no kiss save haply that of the traitor Judas. But neither had Judas this kiss, and therefore when he would have shewn to the Jews that kiss which was the concerted sign of his betrayal, the Lord says to him: S. Luke xxii. 48. Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? that is, ‘Thou offerest a kiss, though thou hast not the love that the kiss should express,thou offerest a kiss who art ignorant of the mystical meaning[207] of the kiss.’ What is required is not the kiss of the lips, but of the heart and mind.
17. But you will say that he kissed the Lord. True it is he kissed Him with his lips, and this kiss the Jewish people has, wherefore it is said, S. Matt. xv. 8. This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Wherefore he has not the kiss who has not faith and charity; for by a kiss is conveyed the force of love. Where love is not, nor faith, nor charity, how can there be any sweetness in kisses?
18. Now the Church ceases not to kiss the feet of Christ, and therefore in the Cant. i. 1. Song of songs she asks not for one but many kisses; like holy Mary she is attentive to all His discourses, she receives all His words, when the Gospel is read, or the Prophets; she S. Luke ii. 51. keeps all His sayings in her heart. The Church, alone, then, as being the spouse, has kisses, for a kiss is, as it were, the pledge of marriage and the privilege of wedlock. How can the Jew have kisses who believes not in the Spouse, who knows not that He is already come?
19. Nor is it kisses alone that he lacks, but oil also, wherewith to anoint the feet of Christ, for if he had had oil he would before now have bowed down his neck. For Moses says, Exod. xxxiv. 9. It is a stiff-necked people; and the Lord saysthat S. Luke x. 31, 32. the priest and levite passed by on the other side, nor did either of these pour oil and wine into the wounds of him who had been wounded by robbers; had they possessed this oil they would have poured it into their own wounds. But Isaiah says, Is. i. 6. They cannot apply ointment nor oil nor bandage.
20. But the Church has oil wherewith she dresses the wounds of her children, that the hardness of the wound may not sink inwards; she has oil, which she has received secretly. With this oil Asher has washed his feet, as it is written, Deut. xxxiii. 24. A blessed son is Asher; and he shall be acceptable to his brethren, dip his foot in oil. With this oil therefore the Church anoints the necks of her children, that they may receive the yoke of Christ; with this oil she has anointed the martyrs to purify them from the dust of this world; with this oil she has anointed confessors, that so they might not yield to labour, or sink down through weariness, or be overwhelmed by the waves of this world; it is for the purpose of refreshing them with spiritual oil that she has thus anointed them.
21. The Synagogue possesses not this oil, for she hath not the olive, Gen. viii. 11. she did not recognize that dove which brought back the olive branch after the deluge. This same dove afterwards descended, when Christ was being baptized, and abode upon Him, as John testifies in the Gospel, saying, S. John i. 32. I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. But how could he see the dove, who saw Him not upon whom the Spirit descended as a dove?
22. So then the Church both washes the feet of Christ, and wipes them with her hair, and anoints them with oil, and pours ointment upon them, in that she not only tends the wounded and comforts the weary, but also sprinkles over them the sweet odours of grace. Nor is it upon the rich and powerful only that she sheds this grace, but on men of low birth also, she weighs all in an equal balance, she receives all in the same bosom, and cherishes them in the same lap.
23. Christ died once, and was buried once, nevertheless He daily desires that ointment should be poured upon Hisfeet. Now what are these feet of Christ whereon we pour ointment? The feet of Christ are they of whom He saith Himself, S. Matt. xxv. 40. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.These feet that woman in the Gospel tends[208], and washes with her tears, when the lowest have their sins remitted, their faults washed away, their pardon granted. These feet he kisses who loves even the lowest of the holy congregation. These feet he anoints with ointment, who imparts even to the weaker brethren the graces of His meekness. In these the martyrs, in these the Apostles, in these the Lord Jesus Himself declares that He is honoured.
24. Thou seest what instruction the Lord imparts, how by His example He stimulates thee to devotion; for He instructs by His censure. And He thus accuses the Jews, Micah vi. 3, 4. O My people, what have I done unto thee, and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against Me. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; adding, and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Ib. 5. and
Num. xxiii. 2. Remember what Balak devised against thee, he, that is, who sought the aid of enchantments, but I suffered him not to hurt thee. Truly thou wert oppressed while sojourning in foreign lands, thou wert laden with heavy burthens: I sent Moses Aaron and Miriam before thy face, and he who had spoiled the strangers was himself despoiled. Thou, who hadst lost thine own goods gainedst others, thou wert delivered from the enemies that surrounded thee, Exod. xiv. 29. and in the midst of the waters thou sawest in safety the death of thine enemies, for the same wave which had separated and carried thee forward flowed back again and drowned the Egyptians. When thou wert in want of food while journeying through the wilderness, did I not Ib. xvi. 4. rain bread from heaven for thee, and scatter food around thee, whereon thou wentest? Did I not subdue all thy enemies and bring thee into the region of Num. xiii. 24. the cluster of grapes? Did I not deliver up to thee Ib. xxi. 24. Sihon (which means ‘proud’) king of the Amorites (that is, chief of them that provoked thee); did I not also Joshua viii. 23. deliver to thee alive the king of Ai, whom, subject to the sentence of the ancient curse, Ib. 29. thou nailedst to the wood and hangedst upon a tree? What shall I sayof the Josh. x. 26. slaughter of the hosts of the five kings, who strove to exclude thee from the promised land? Micah vi. 8. And what doth the Lord require of thee, o man, for all these things, but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
25. And to king David himself, that meek and holy man, what was His expostulation by the prophet Nathan? I chose thee, He says, the youngest among thy brethren; I filled thee with the spirit of meekness; by the hand of Samuel, in whom was My Spirit and My Name, 2 Sam. xii. 7. I anointed thee king. And from an exile I made thee a conqueror, taking out of the way that former king whom an evil spirit instigated to persecute the priests of the Lord. Upon thy throne I set one of thy seed not so much as an heir as a colleague. I made even strangers subject to thee, that they who resisted might serve thee, and wilt thou deliver My servants into the hands of My enemies, wilt thou take away that which was My servant’s, whereby both thou wilt be branded with sin, and My adversaries will have whereof to glory?