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On Intention

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XCIII. On Intention

1. God constitutes the principal intention,
for everything that exists within creation
does so for the purpose of knowing God to be good.
 
2. There exists one intention that is greater
and another that is lesser:
the one is the vassal, the other, lord.
 
3. The worthier intention
pertains to a spiritual cause,
while its servant does so to a bodily such.
 
4. Living serves the first intention
while eating serves the second such,
and they both exist so that man may be good.
 
5. He who bears a greater love towards God
for the sake of his own salvation than he does for the sake of God’s honour,
loves God by means of a lesser intention.
 
6. Bonification resides within goodness
by the first intention,
while forgiveness does so in mercy.
 
7. In God, it is fitting that
the intentions of judgement and forgiveness be equal,
so that hope and fear may remain.
 
8. When he who entertains a virtuous (lit. “good”) intention,
wishes to commit evil, he is struck by <a sense of> contrition
to do good rather than to commit sins.
 
9. A virtuous (lit. “good”) intention is of much greater worth
than is all the gold which once belonged
to Alexander and to Solomon.
 
10. A virtuous intention may be preserved
by means of virtuous understanding and virtuous remembering,
as well as of faithfulness and virtuous deeds.[1]
 

[1] In this entire versicle, the term “virtuous” stands in for the Old Cat. bo (lit. “good”).