695 the second word of a solemn oath, that after a few hours, he would be taken up to paradise with Him: “He replied to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with [M]e in Paradise’” (Lk 23:42). What He said, He did; what He promised, He fulfilled. That same day, He placed the thief in paradise. O most blessed of promises! With what effort was it acquired? Through penance. Then, this is the key, with which sinners unlock for themselves the gate of the heavenly paradise. Indeed, this is the battering ram, with which they break through the gate, as I will explain more precisely. After the progenitors of our race violated the precept of God given to them, i.e., of not touching the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were expelled from the wonderfully beautiful, verdant Elysian Kingdom15 into the valley of the tears of this world. With one sin they sealed forever the gate for themselves and for their posterity. To this the sacred historian testified in these words: “Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.” And to prevent these unfortunate exiles from reentering that blessed Homeland, “[H]e placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen 3:23-24). It is impossible to force one’s entry into paradise through that type of guard either by strength or by stealth, particularly for such mortals who have added many sinful deeds to the original sin. However, the exceptionally gifted Isidore16 asserts that by a certain pious stratagem, any sinner can breach this strongly reinforced gate and reach the Tree of Life: That is, by transforming himself into a Cherub equipped with a sword. He said, “The man returns to God through the double-edged flaming sword, that is, through the fire of temporal sufferings: by admitting his sins and mourning 15 Elysian Kingdom, Elysian Fields — in Greek and Roman mythology — are the regions of eternal spring and happiness, where the souls of the just stay after death. The Elysian fields were supposed to be in Hades or in the western regions of earth. Cf. Virgil, Aeneid VI, 638ff. 16 St. Isidore, Bishop of Seville, Doctor of the Church, († 636). Cf. Madoz, Giuseppe, Isidoro di Siviglia, santo, in: Ecat VII, 254-258.
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