XLV. De vitio vagationis

XLV. De vitio vagationis

Those who embrace wandering do not fear God and lack the love of God; and when they cast aside that fear, they are devoid of wisdom; and when they do not engage in love, they cannot possess true knowledge. Indeed, wandering is a sign of disobedience, and it often serves luxury; and even if it doesn't fulfill its purpose, it still seeks companionship and desires its appearance, submitting itself to its duty. For it is both ravenous and tepid, and it howls in every situation; it is like food that is not seasoned with salt, having neither true joy nor proper sorrow, it does not perceive prophecy, nor does wisdom speak with it, because it is neither root nor leaf of a fruitful tree, since in the root of prophecy it does not soak like dew in the morning, nor does it rise in the leaf of the wisdom of edification at noon. For it is like foam and rot, having no taste in knowledge, no nourishment in works, and it does not remain in any usefulness; it lacks a vigilant sense and does not elevate the mind to God with any authority. It also gathers idleness and laziness to itself, with which it recklessly walks through many slippery and disgraceful paths, and fixing its gaze on the variety of things that come its way, it forgets what belongs to God, while also neglecting the physical needs of its own situation many times in this way. But whoever desires to serve God diligently and in the austerity of his life should shun the vanities of this vice, and, binding himself both in body and spirit, should lift himself up to God. For when a person is lifted up to heaven, seeing God with the eyes of faith, he kisses Him with the most diligent contemplation and embraces Him with the strongest love. Then in this man, it is fulfilled as it is written: The words of David. Delight in the Lord, and He will grant you the desires of your heart. This should also be understood in this way. You who faithfully believe in God and who perform faithful works, gather every delight of virtue to yourself; find joy in Him who is the Lord of all, following Him faithfully and loving Him sincerely, who is your Creator. And when you delight in Him like this, He will give you what is good, and in those things, you will never grow weary, namely, according to what you ask and according to what your heart desires. Just as faith, through which you rightly believe in God, allows you to ask for nothing but what is just, so that contemplation, which faith teaches, seeks nothing in the presence of God except what pleases Him and what is eternal. For if you sigh to God out of your own need, and if you cry out to God for the necessity of your brother, the fragrance of these good and holy works will draw near to God, and He will not fail to fulfill those petitions that are just. These things have been said about the souls of the repentant, who are being purified and saved; they are faithful, and let the faithful pay attention to them, and let them be composed in memory of good knowledge. Then I saw other spirits of the same multitude, all of whom I heard crying out with a loud voice: 'Lucifer is Lord, for the elements obey his command.' And they carefully examined the elements, and they lead people to wrongdoing, persuading them to engage in magical arts and sorcery.