1 Pet. 5:14. Greet one another with a kiss of love.
Whereas Paul writes (Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20) that believers should greet one another "with a holy kiss," Peter says: greet one another "with a kiss of love." But the thought of both is one and the same. Paul knows that love in the Lord is greater than all virtues, even martyrdom for Christ, and therefore calls holy the kiss that is given in God. And Peter, when he speaks of a kiss of love, means: of true love. Therefore he also adds:
1 Pet. 5:14. Peace to you all in Christ Jesus.
He speaks not of the ordinary, human peace, but wishes them to receive that peace which Christ bestowed upon them when He was departing to His sufferings, saying: "Peace I leave with you," and noting the distinction: "not as the world gives" (Jn. 14:27). For one must keep peace not out of partiality, but because you are bound by love, so that one must endure blows from adversaries. The disciples of the Lord everywhere, at the end of their epistles, append a prayer like a seal, and thereby show their genuine holiness. Some of those who came before us thought that the Mark of whom holy Peter speaks was his son also according to the flesh. They based this conjecture on the fact that in the Acts of the Apostles Luke says that after the angel of God miraculously freed the apostle Peter from the prison in which he had been placed by Herod, and ceased guiding him, he, the apostle Peter, "came to the house of Mary the mother of John, who was called Mark" (Acts 12:12). They supposed that he had come to his own house and to his lawful wife.
The First Catholic Epistle of the Apostle Peter was written from Rome.