A Holy Kiss

My favorite place in Greece was Delphi.  Many people came here to consult the Oracle.  What made it my favorite was the altitude.  I chose a hotel clinging to the mountain with a great view of the Gulf of Corinth.  The picture includes the city of Corinth and an enormous orchard of olive trees.  I have never had such delicious olives; they were almost sweet.
In the time of St. Paul it was a large and bustling city, apparently famous for its immorality.  At the very end of Paul's 2nd letter to the Corinthians (13:11-13,) we get only a hint of the difficulties Paul ran into with the converts there, fighting among themselves.  It is kind of reassuring that the kind of split that we find in the Church today was already happening in the late 50's of the first century.  Paul begs the Corinthians to let the kiss of peace be an expression of the loving concern for one another.
This is the only passage in this year's Trinity Sunday readings that refers to "three."  This early on the Christians did not have a developed doctrine of the Holy Trinity, but Paul expresses an awareness of relating to God in three ways.  Through Jesus the community has come to know the love of God that they may live in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, the source of their unity in Christ.  Just a glimpse!