Just as the romance of Abraham and Sarah is one one of the great stories of the Old Testament, so the romance of God and the Virgin Mary is one of the great stories of the New Testament. In the fertile period of Christian writers which followed the age of the Fathers, the Bride of the Song of Songs was identified more and more as the Virgin Mary, and many beautiful expositions of that biblical book were based on this understanding. Among them is that of Alain de Lille (d. 1202), a Frenchman who taught at the University of Paris. The following is from the opening of his commentary on this book:
" 'Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.' In other words, Behold the handmaid of The Lord; let it be done to me according to your word. She heard the heavenly spokesman for her Groom, the archangel Gabriel, who was sent to her. He had honored the Virgin with a special and unheard of greeting, and rendered unto her a special and spiritual blessing, saying to her: 'Hail Mary, full of grace, The Lord is with you.' When she heard that the Son of God would be born of her, she was neither afraid of the news, nor elated because of its meaning, nor proud because of her Son; but humbling herself before God in all things and through all things, unafraid of the divine announcement, she said: 'Behold the handmaid of The Lord. Let it be done to me according to you word.' That is, At your word, I will conceive the Word of God. And so, 'Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.'
"The Son of the Father is called his 'mouth' for several reasons. Just as a person speaks to another person with his mouth, so did the Father speak to the world through his Son. The mouth is of the same nature as the rest of the body, and so the Son shares the nature of the Father. And just as a kiss is furnished by the mouth, so did the Father provide the gift of grace to the faithful soul through his Son."
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