more than the smallest participation of the infinite happiness of God. The blessed in heaven find therein their happiness; that is, in entering into the immense ocean of the happiness of God: Enter Thou into the joy of thy Lord. [1] This is the paradise which God bestows on the soul at the moment when it enters into possession of his eternal kingdom.
God, in creating man at the beginning, did not place him on earth to surfer, but put him into the paradise of pleasure. [2] He put him in a place of delight, in order that he might pass thence to heaven, where he should enjoy for all eternity the glory of the blessed. But by sin unhappy man made himself unworthy of the earthly, and closed against himself the gates of the heavenly para dise, wilfully condemning himself to death and to ever lasting misery. But the Son of God, in order to rescue man from such a state of ruin, what did he do? From blessed and most happy as he was, he chose to become afflicted and tormented. Our Redeemer could, indeed, have rescued us from the hands of our enemies without suffering. He could have come on earth and continued in his happiness, leading here below a pleasant life, receiving the honor justly due to him as King and Lord of all. It was enough, as far as regarded the redemption, that he should have offered to God one drop of blood, one single tear, to redeem the world and an infinity of worlds: "the least degree of the suffering of Christ " (says the Angelic Doctor) " would have sufficed for redemption, on account of the infinite dignity of his Person." [3] But no: " Having joy set before Him, He endured the Cross. [4] He renounced all honors and pleasures
