Nobis sancti spiritus

 The Washington Post has opined that

 Pope Francis has appeased the Castro

 régime in not exploiting his tour of

 Cuba to demand political concessions

 of human rights - at least, that is,

 to the editors' satisfaction. There

 was no suppressing, however, a clear

 general thrust of his call for a rev-

 olution of tenderness, as he departed.

 Concluding one of the most remarkab-

 ly obtuse ratings of the struggle of

 the spirit ever to be reduced to writ-

 ing, the newspaper snidely remarked,

 But then, it takes more fortitude to

 challenge a dictatorship than a dem-

 ocracy.

 We are compelled to wonder how much

 else of people of faith this newspap-

 er would like to demand, on its watch

 of human fortitude. Just whose forti-

 tude would the newspaper place on the

 line, for this thrilling confrontation?

 That of the diplomatically immune agent

 of faith, or that of its vigil keepers?

 Who needs Marco Rubio, with comprehen-

 sion like this, of the real imperil-

 ments of confrontational fortitude?

 The real human suffering, the real

 human cost, the real test of faith,

 the real revolution demanded, as if

 commanding a great vintage, here and

 now, from a vulnerable vine in mid-

 season? Who is it, who suffers for

 the gratification of stupidity in

 the stewardship of worldly demands?

 How many divisions has he: Stalin.

 He has a mission to comfort the souls

 of the faithful, to encourage through

 them the outcomes so impetuously and

 ignorantly demanded by this newspaper,

 not to subject them to martyrdom as a

 proof of their fortitude. His disdain,

 his objections to injustice are only

 too unwithheld to be missed by people

 subdued by any restraint, save those

 corrupted, by the easy pleasures of

 missions accomplished.

Matas Ignatavicius

Herbert List
  Mexico, 1958

Last cluster
  Virginia, 2005

Alexander Agricola
1445 - 1506
Motet, Nobis Sancti Spiritus
San Francisco Chanticleer
Chanticleer Records, 1993©