The last comparison will be between the price at which Paradise was bought by Christ, and at which it must also be bought by us, and the greatness and excellence of Paradise itself. Christ, at the price of His Blood, bought for us the heavenly paradise, which the envy of the Devil had snatched from us—not that he might have it himself, but that we too might be deprived of it; for it was to this end that he seduced Eve, and through her drove Adam into transgression, that he might have companions in his punishment. Christ, therefore, is that prudent merchant (Matt. 13), who gave all that he had to buy the precious pearl, by which, as He Himself clearly taught, the kingdom of heaven is signified; He is the one of whom the Apostle speaks when he says: "You are bought with a great price" (1 Cor. 6). And the Apostle Peter: "You were not redeemed with corruptible things, with gold or silver, but with the precious Blood of Christ, as of the Lamb unspotted and undefiled" (1 Pet. 1). And again: "They deny the Lord who bought them" (2 Pet. 2). For Christ, at one and the same time, both bought paradise for us and bought us ourselves. For we too had been made captives, and had lost paradise through sin: but Christ, redeeming us from our sins and from the captivity of the Devil, at the same time made us sons and heirs of God, and thereby restored paradise to us. Hence, then, is revealed the greatness of the heavenly paradise: that it seemed to the Wisdom of God worthy of an infinite price. If now among men a prudent and exceedingly rich merchant were to buy a precious pearl, gladly selling off all his possessions, certainly no one would doubt that that pearl was so extraordinary and unique that a price worthy of it could scarcely be found. Of how great a worth, then, ought we to reckon—if we were endowed with any judgment—the possession of the heavenly kingdom, which the Wisdom of God, the Incarnate Word, purchased with all His labors, and sweat, and sufferings over the space of thirty-three years, and finally with His Blood and His most precious death? We are altogether too foolish if we sell, for the paltry price of any temporal goods whatever, that which Christ the Lord deemed worthy of an infinite price.
What is more: not only did Christ judge that paradise should be bought for us with His Blood; but all the blessed, taught by Him, most gladly offered whatever they had, whatever they were worth, whatever they were, in order to buy that same paradise. Indeed St. Paul cries out: "The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8). And if anyone were to ask all the blessed Martyrs whether they gladly bought paradise at the cost of so many most bitter torments, and the blessed Confessors whether they gladly bought paradise at the cost of so many vigils, fasts, prayers, alms, and persecutions: surely they would all cry out with the Apostle: "The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us." For although the Blood of Christ was for us not only a worthy price for paradise—indeed, one surpassing and exceeding the worth of the thing purchased—nevertheless He also willed that we should buy it, so as to honor and exalt us. For it is a great glory for a man that he obtains paradise not only by the merit of Christ, but also by his own merit, which nevertheless received its force from the merit of Christ. And if anyone, though able, should refuse to do good and to suffer evil in order to buy paradise, he is cast out from the commerce of Christ as a wicked and slothful servant, as Christ Himself warns in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25): and the Apostle gravely warns when he says: "If sons, heirs also; heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ; yet so, if we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him" (Rom. 8).
And lest anyone should perhaps complain that he does not have a worthy price, let him know that nothing is demanded of us except what we have. For so speaks St. Augustine: "The kingdom of God is worth as much as you have" (Tract. on Ps. 49). And he proves it by examples from divine Scripture;
"What is so cheap, what so earthly, as to break bread for one who is hungry? So much is the kingdom of God worth. For it is written: 'Possess the kingdom prepared for you, for I was hungry, and you gave Me bread.' The widow bought it with two mites. Peter bought it by leaving his nets. Zacheus bought it by giving half of his possessions." So speaks St. Augustine; and with him agrees the Venerable Bede when he says that he who has nothing besides himself buys it by giving himself. "That thing," he says, "that is, the heavenly kingdom, asks no other price than yourself: it is worth as much as you are; give yourself, and you shall have it" (Sermon 19 on the Saints). For certainly Lazarus the beggar had nothing to give except patience in his sufferings, and he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom (Luke 16); and the good thief had nothing in this world that was his own except a free voice, with which he cried out: "Remember me when You come into Your kingdom" — and at once he heard: "Today you shall be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23). O truly great liberality of God! O ineffable happiness of man, who can so easily strike a bargain with his Lord over the price of a thing precious above all things! Do you ask God, O man, for the paradise of all delights? Give yourself, and you shall have it. And what is it to give yourself? Love God with your whole heart, humble yourself under His mighty hand, praise Him at all times, and freely acquiesce in His will, whether He wills you to be rich or poor, held in honor or in obscurity, healthy or sick. For His every will is good, and all His judgments are just. Say to God: "I am Yours; do with me according to Your good pleasure; I do not resist, I do not complain, I do not refuse Your dominion. My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready" (Ps. 107). "Not my will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22). This holocaust is beyond every price in the sight of God, who has no need of our goods (Ps. 15). "Does the Lord will holocausts and victims," says Samuel, "and not rather that the voice of the Lord be obeyed?" (1 Sam. 15). This holocaust of obedience Christ offered daily to the Father, as He Himself testifies when He says: "The things that are pleasing to Him, I do always" (John 8). And the Apostle, a true imitator of Christ: "We strive, whether absent or present, to please Him" (2 Cor. 5). This perfect renunciation of all that a man possesses or desires to possess (Luke 14), this denial of one's very self so as to serve God alone, is the true price of paradise. Nor does he who in this way gives himself to buy paradise lose himself; rather, he finds himself, as the Lord says: "He who loses his life for My sake shall find it" (Matt. 10).
And "he who hates his life in this world keeps it unto life eternal" (John 12). But since this wisdom is hidden (Matt. 11) from the wise and prudent of this world — who are truly fools before God, and "of fools the number is infinite" (Eccles. 1) — therefore "many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt. 22).