On Movement
LXXXII. On Movement
1. God is the mover of all things,
by means of goodness, virtue, power and <the> good;
for which reason transgression and sin do not derive from Him.
2. In bonifying, God stirs[1] goodness
by means of the bonifier and the bonified, and He stirs love
by means of the lover and the loveable in order to do good.
3. God stirs that freedom a person
enjoys to do good at the point of feeling charity,
though He fails to do so with respect to someone who commits evil and sins.
4. Inasmuch as God chose to become man and to die for the latter’s sake,
He stirs the just (i.e. righteous) man to suffer pain and hardship
for His sake, in order that he may serve Him.
5. Justice stirs the just man by means of judgement,
and goodness stirs the good man by means of bonifying,
and love stirs mankind to conceive love.[2]
6. The movement of virtuous thoughts
by means of virtuous remembering and virtuous loving
is superior to the movement of the heavens (lit. “firmament”).[3]
7. He who is forbearing as regards the natural movement
he enjoys when he touches, tastes, speaks or sees,
stirs himself by means of virtuous (lit. “good”) thoughts.
8. He who entertains great contrition in his heart
and prays that God may forgive his sins
stirs God to pity and to giving.
9. Man undergoes bodily movement with respect to his body
and another, spiritual, movement, with respect to his soul,
as well as a further <such> with respect to God that is worthier than both of the former.
10. He who fails to let God stir his will,
Who desires to do so in order that He may be loved thereby,
is committing an offence, transgression and sin.
[1] The Old Catalan verb moure (lit. “to move”) is here, where necessary, translated as “to stir.”
[2] In this versicle, the simple sense of the Old catalan word just is retained on account of the presence of the cognate term jutjar within the same line.
[3] In this entire versicle, the term “virtuous” stands in for the Old Cat. bo (lit. “good”).