The Eucharistic kiss

St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) did not write a systematic treatise devoted exclusively to the Eucharist in the way that later theologians would do. Bernard’s approach to the Eucharist is contemplative, mystical and unitive.  We can gain some insight into his approach by immersing ourselves in the monastic spirituality of the Benedictine family of which the Cistercians were a new development from the 12^th Century.  For the early Cistercians, and broadly within the Benedictine monastic tradition of Bernard's time, the focus was on a living relationship with Christ through Scripture, the liturgy and the sacrament. 
  In his Sermons on the Song of Songs, he uses the language of desire, intimacy and union between the disciple and Jesus.

For Bernard, Christianity was essentially a relationship with Christ. The Eucharist was not just a sacred object or ritual but a privileged meeting with the Bridegroom of the soul.   In one of his sermons he quotes the Song of Songs:

"Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.”

Saint Benedict and the Eucharist

Picture caption:  Laborare est Orare ('to work is to pray')- 

a 1862 painting by John Rogers Herbert 

which depicts monks at work in the fields.

Saint Benedict (AD 480-550) was the founder of Western monasticism and is regarded as a patron Saint of Europe.  He wrote a Rule for monks living communally under the authority of an Abbot.  This serves as the founding document of Benedictine monasticism and spirituality.  Over the centuries, Benedictine monasticism spread across the  world; Benedictine monasticism was introduced into Ireland during the eleventh- and twelfth-century church reforms, and expanded further around the time of the Norman settlement.  An important branch of the Benedictine family is the Cistercian Order, founded at Cîteaux in 1098 by Saints Robert of Molesme, Alberic and Stephen Harding.