On Presence
XCI. On Presence
1. O God Who exists infinitely!
Whoever commits sin, does he not feel shame before You,
since You are present to everything he does?
2. God is present by virtue of His goodness,
truth, justice and compassion
to everyone who commits any wicked deeds.
3. God is present to man by virtue of His goodness,
so that <the latter> may not commit any wicked deeds,
yet should he do so, that he may be dissatisfied thereby.
4. God is present to man by virtue of His truth
so that, should <the latter> commit any sins,
he may not deny them by means of any sacrament.
5. In the presence of judgment,
he who commits sins errs,
for which reason he ought to be (lit. “it behoves him to be”) fearful.
6. In the presence of compassion,
a man errs when he sins:
why, then, does he lose hope?
7. The presence of virtuous loving,
virtuous understanding and <virtuous> remembering
make God present to man.[1]
8. The presence of God
in one’s memory, will and intellect
is worth more than <the presence therein> of one’s wife, child or of honours <received>.
9. The desire <either> to do good or to commit evil
is present within freedom
in order that it may be judged.
10. He who wishes to perform some good <deed>
is set on his path by a worthy (lit. “good”) goal,[2]
and his good deed places <that goal> before him.
11. To whomever forsakes the good and commits evil,
sin presents the reward
he shall enjoy in the eternal fire.
[1] In this entire versicle, the term “virtuous” stands in for the Old Cat. bo (lit. “good”).
[2] The Old Catalan phrase lo fa comensar is here translated as “is set on his path.” For the significance of the verb començar and the cognates thereof, cf. n. 1, chap. V, § 5.