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Vatican City, Jun 2, 2016 / 03:53 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis spoke candidly to thousands of priests this week during a special retreat for the Year of Mercy. The upshot of what he told them? We as priests are sinners, and we need God's mercy as much as everyone else.

The Pope encouraged them to look to the Prodigal Son as a way to overcome the scandal of sin and celebrate God’s mercy and forgiveness in their lives and their ministry.

“If we start by thanking the Lord for having wondrously created us and for even more wondrously redeemed us, surely this will lead us to a sense of sorrow for our sins. If we start by feeling compassion for the poor and the outcast, surely we will come to realize that we ourselves stand in need of mercy.”

He told the priests “we are at one and the same time sinners pardoned and sinners restored to dignity.”

The Jubilee of Priests began on Wednesday June 1 and will end on Saturday, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The three-day period offers the priests chances for prayer and reflection, Eucharistic Adoration, and confession. They may also make pilgrimages to designated jubille churches and pass through the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica. The jubille will conclude with a June 3 Mass with Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square.

Pope Francis delivered his Wednesday remarks at the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

“God’s name is mercy,” he said in his first meditation. “If we reflect on this natural feeling of mercy we begin to see how God Himself can be understood in terms of this defining attribute by which Jesus wished to reveal Him to us.”

He said that mercy leads to immediate action. It is not productive to “intellectualize things” during prayer. Rather, prayer must focus immediately on those sins for which we most need God’s mercy, are most ashamed, and most desire to make reparation.

He also encouraged the priests to “speak of what most moves us, of all those faces that make us want to do something to satisfy their hunger and thirst for God, for justice, for tenderness.”

“Mercy engages our whole being – our feelings and our spirit – and all other beings as well,” he said.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son shows the power of homesickness and nostalgia, which make us “think back to our first experience of goodness – the homeland from which we went forth” and awakens the hope of returning there.

The prodigal son’s nostalgia helped him realize he was miserable. He returned to his father with “embarrassed dignity,” but his father restored this dignity. According to the Pope, mercy maintains the balance between acknowledging ourselves as sinners and recognizing our dignity as children loved by God the Father. We will be led to be merciful to others if we can see ourselves in the place of the prodigal son.

“If we can serenely keep our heart balanced between those two extremes – dignity and embarrassment – without letting go of either of them, perhaps we can feel how the heart of our Father beats with love for us,” the Pope told the priests.

The prodigal son’s father celebrated as a way to show that everything could be restored to his son at once. Mercy makes us pass “from estrangement to celebration” and can only be understood through hope.

“Mercy is the genuine expression of life that counters death, the bitter fruit of sin,” the Pope said. Mercy is not naïve or blind to evil, but it sees “how short life is and all the good still to be done.”

“That is why it is so important to forgive completely, so that others can look to the future without wasting time on self-recrimination and self-pity over their past mistakes,” the pontiff continued. “Mercy is always tinged with hope.”

The Pope described the tension in the person of Simon Peter, the apostle and first Pope. He was “an ordinary man with all his faults and inconsistencies” as well as the bearer of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.

“That is how we have to see ourselves: poised between our utter shame and our sublime dignity. Dirty, impure, mean and selfish, yet at the same time, with feet washed, called and chosen to distribute the Lord’s multiplied loaves, blessed by our people, loved and cared for,” he told the priests. “Only mercy makes this situation bearable. Without it, either we believe in our own righteousness like the Pharisees, or we shrink back like those who feel unworthy. In either case, our hearts grow hardened.”

For Pope Francis, the only way to be excessive in responding to God’s excessive mercy is “to be completely open to receiving it and to sharing it with others.” He cited the many examples of this excessive mercy in the Gospels.

The Pope’s second reflection, given Thursday at the Basilica of St. Mary Major, compared sin to “the vessel of mercy” that is like a leaky bucket from which grace quickly drains. He invoked the Prophet Jeremiah’s imagery of a people who have forsaken God, the fountain of living water, and dug for themselves “cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”

“God keeps forgiving, even though he sees how hard it is for his grace to take root in the parched and rocky soil of our hearts.   He never stops sowing his mercy and his forgiveness,” he added.

The Pope said that the heart redeemed in Christ is “no longer battered and leaky.”

“It feels the balm of grace poured out upon its wounds and its sinfulness; it feels mercy assuaging its guilt, watering its aridity with love and rekindling its hope,” he said. When this heart forgives other sinners and treats them with compassion, this mercy “takes root in good soil, where water does not drain off but sinks in and gives life.”

The best practitioners of mercy are those who know themselves to be forgiven. He used the example of addiction counselors who have themselves overcome addiction and can best understand, help and challenge others.

“So too, the best confessors are usually themselves good penitents.    Almost all the great saints were great sinners or, like Saint Therese, knew that it was by sheer grace that they were not,” he said.

The wounds of Jesus Christ on the Risen Lord “remind us that the traces of our sins, forgiven by God, never completely heal or disappear; they remain as scars.”

“God’s mercy is in those scars. In the scars of the risen Christ, the marks of the wounds in his hands and feet but also in his pierced heart, we find the true meaning of sin and grace.”

While Jesus’ heart was pure love and wounded willingly, the heart of fallen humanity is “pure wound” that was healed “because it allowed itself to be loved.”

The Pope encouraged the priests to look to the saints who “let their hearts be re-created by mercy.”

“Paul received mercy in the harsh and inflexible vessel of his judgement, shaped by the Law. His harsh judgement made him a persecutor,” he commented.   Mercy so changed him that he sought those who were far off, from the pagan world, and, at the same time showed great understanding and mercy to those who were as he had been.   “

He also spoke of other saints.

“Peter was healed of the deepest wound of all, that of denying his friend,” he said. John the Apostle was “healed in his pride for wanting to requite evil with fire.”

The Pope said that the Virgin Mary is “the simple yet perfect vessel that both receives and bestows mercy.”

“Her free ‘yes’ to grace is the very opposite of the sin that led to the downfall of the prodigal son,” he said. “Her mercy is very much her own, very much our own and very much that of the Church.”

The Pope spoke of special ways in which the Virgin Mary looks upon priests. Her gaze “makes us feel her maternal embrace” and her eyes “open up a space that is inviting, not at all like a tribunal or an office.”

“If at times people realize that their own gaze has become hardened, that they tend to look at people with annoyance or coldness, they can turn back to her in heartfelt humility,” he said. “She can remove the myopia that fails to see the needs of others.”

She can also cure the far-sightedness that cannot see the details “where the truly important things are played out in the life of the Church and of the family.”

She helps find “a way to bring good out of all the things that her people lay at her feet.” Her gaze is one of “complete attention” and she is concerned only with the person in front of her. Her gaze is “all-embracing” and brings everything together: our past, present and future.

“It is not fragmented or partial: mercy can see things as a whole and grasp what is most necessary,” he said. At the wedding at Cana, Mary foresaw with empathy what the lack of wine would mean and asked Jesus to solve the problem without anyone noticing.

“We can see our entire priestly life as somehow ‘foreseen’ by Mary’s mercy; she sees beforehand the things we lack and provides for them,” the Pope said. He said any “good wine” in priests’ lives is due not to their own merits but to her anticipated mercy.

Pope Francis concluded his Thursday remarks with a prayer: “Remember, Lord, your covenant of mercy with your sons, the priests of your people. With Mary, may we be the sign and sacrament of your mercy.”

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San Francisco, Calif., Jun 2, 2016 / 05:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Several years ago, a Lutheran theologian and former Japanese newspaper correspondent uncovered an unusual phenomenon in Japan.

In one of the most secular countries in the world, many people were avid fans of Christian classical composer, Johannes Sebastian Bach. Their favorite piece? St. Matthew Passion.

We recently caught up with theologian Uwe Siemon-Netto to revisit the anomaly, and what effects it could have on the re-evangelization of the Eastern nation.

How did you first learn that the Japanese people loved Bach’s music?

I am from Leipzig, Germany and I saw a lot of Japanese there all the time, and the regional bishop, and he told me about Bach Japanese professors coming to Liepzig to do research on the weekday lectionary of Bach’s composition.

Then I used to be the Far East correspondent for a newspaper in Germany and later of course often traveled to the Far East. And in the process, I discovered the love of the Japanese for Bach’s music, and that baffled me.  

I’m a Westerner, I was raised to the tunes of Bach and Beethoven and Mozart, and if you will, lighter music or jazz, but Japanese music would never get me excited. I would find it sweet and nice, but how is it that they find Bach so appealing?

Who helped bring about the popularity of Bach’s music in Japan?

On one of my many visits to Japan, I (found) there’s a very famous Bach scholar, he’s the one who got the whole thing rolling in the 20th Century. His name is Suzuki, and I looked him up, and he was a Christian, a Presbyterian as a matter of fact, and an organist at the local church. I met him for a number of interviews and went to a number of concerts with him.

He was a student of Tom Koopman, and he showed me that the interesting thing is that the Japanese (after the performance of Matthew’s Passion, for which they paid $1,000 per ticket, that was huge, and this was in the 1990s), they follow the text in German and Japanese in the program, and there are certain words which they didn’t understand, or for which there’s no Japanese translation – one being a word for 'hope.' They would surround him after the concert, asking him to explain to them what these words meant.

There aren’t many Christians in Japan today. Why do they so enjoy Bach’s Christian music?

Bach’s music has been all but forgotten even in Germany until Mendelssohn rediscovered him in the mid-19th century in Germany. Then shortly thereafter, elements of that came to Japan, probably from a German musician or conductor, to huge success.

Then Japanese musicologists slowly unraveled “What is this phenomenon?” That same question I asked as a journalist; the phenomenon that the Japanese somehow click to this very Western sound of Baroque music, or Western music all together – in this particular case, Bach’s music.

The musicologists discovered that this dates back to the late 16th century, when the Jesuits and the Franciscans came to southern Japan and Christianized (the region).

...there’s a strong mathematical element in Bach’s music, so the beauty of God is reflected in the universe, it’s reflected in your surroundings...and it’s reflected of course in the music by which faith is brought to man.

About a third of the population of the entire nobility of southern Japan became Christian. It was fashionable for southern Japanese to wear crucifixes on their chest and go to bible study and all that sort of thing.

The Franciscans introduced organ builders and they built organs in Japan, especially in Nagasaki, (which) was considered the Vatican of Christianity in Japan in the late 16th century. They trained princes and nobility to play the organ. They were so brilliant that they were flown to Portugal and to Madrid and to the Vatican and played before the Pope and kings.

Then the Shoguns squashed Christianity in the early 17th century through martyrdoms: they burned (Christians) hanging upside down with their mouths hanging over cesspools...crucified them upside down.

Christianity was annihilated in southern Japan with the exception of some outer fishing islands – there you have Christian fishing communities. But the only thing that evidently remained of Christianity until the new wave of missionaries arrived was the sense of music, the Western music, and in this case, Gregorian chant resonated with the Japanese sense of music.

What does this phenomenon say about the hope that Christianity could return to Japan?

It’s very evident to me as a Christian theologian that this is the work of the Spirit. As scripture says, God’s days are like a thousand years, he obviously handles history, gets involved in history for the benefit of His church. And this is to me absolutely is so exciting, the thought that in the 16th century a bunch of missionaries come to Japan, and then Christianity gets wiped out, but what remains and has an impact on the religiosity of the Japanese is the musical part of it.  

I am not saying that music triggers the faith, but the music triggers curiosity about the faith...and of course Bach, being very Lutheran, if he were asked, would say: “What I am doing is setting the word of God to music.”

(The Japanese people today) are not entirely resistant to Christianity, quite to the contrary, they are open to it. As I said in Tokyo, they were asking Suzuki to explain to them the Christian concepts, the meaning of hope and love and peace and all these things, and so it’s there.

The Holy Spirit works over centuries and over generations, so I wouldn’t be surprised if say in 200 years from now, you suddenly have a Christian awakening in Japan.

Why is it that beauty, such as in Bach’s music, opens the mind and heart to God?

Of the members of the hard sciences, mathematicians tend to be the ones more inclined to be believers, and that is because of the beauty of mathematics.

Which leads us to Bach, because there’s a strong mathematical element in Bach’s music, so the beauty of God is reflected in the universe, it’s reflected in your surroundings...and it’s reflected of course in the music by which faith is brought to man.

One of the reasons that I am so ardently opposed to contemporary liturgies, or non-liturgical worship, is because in contemporary liturgies, you have these nonsense, asinine noises being made, and you have the altar replaced by a drum set, and people screaming about and shouting the same garbage, just repeating the same thing, that is not beauty, and I think it is counterproductive theologically to do that – this is my personal prejudice.

I am fervently in favor of a full liturgy that has been brought to us through the ancient Church. It’s the vehicle by which God might make himself known. To me it’s incomprehensible how anyone could say that the creation of the universe was a random operation when it’s so beautifully organized and structured, that’s just crap, it makes you sound so ridiculous, but it is not that saves the world, it is a vehicle. Christ’s work at the cross for us has and is saving the world.

Photo credit: Ms. Octopus via www.shutterstock.com.

This article originally ran on CNA March 18, 2016.

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IMAGE: CNS/L'Osservatore Romano

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The spiritual retreat Pope Francis offered priests and seminarians as part of the Jubilee of Priests could be seen as a "crash course" on the role of mercy in priestly ministry.

His series of three meditations in three Roman basilicas June 2 and Mass June 3 were to be "a full immersion because Pope Francis' heart is immersed in the heart of Jesus the Good Shepherd," said Archbishop Jorge Patron Wong, secretary of seminaries at the Congregation for Clergy.

The pope wanted the jubilee for priests and seminarians to be a time to step back from busy schedules and "find a bit of respite, relief, solace in the heart of the Good Shepherd, in the arms of the good Lord's mercy," the archbishop told Vatican Radio.

The three days of prayer, reflection and liturgies aim to help priests sharpen their focus on Christ and his infinite love and mercy, and recall that all graces and gifts received were given "not because we are great or worthy of his love, but because he is merciful," the archbishop said.

In his meetings with clergy, homilies and through his own lived example, Pope Francis has already given priests clear standards and concrete advice, filling some with a mixture of inspiration and fear.

"You certainly brought about a Copernican Revolution" for the church with this new manner of speaking, living and interacting with people, one priest told the pope during a Q&A in Caserta, Italy, in 2014.

Because, he said, the pope was triggering an existential crisis for priests, he asked what they needed to do to be the right kind of pastor for the third millennium.

While the priest lamented that the church always seems behind the times, the pope disproved the image of a revolution, saying the energy needed to bring God's mercy to the world is not about upheaval, but about revolving always and every day around Christ.

The priestly ministry is centered on Christ, and past popes have focused on very different, yet interlocking, aspects of the Good Shepherd when they've talked about the role of the priest.

St. John Paul II liked to emphasize holiness -- God's "incessant call to sanctification" and the need to strive to be saints.

His own priestly ordination fell on the feast of All Saints and, celebrating his 50th anniversary Nov. 1, 1996, he explained how ordination gives priests the unique power to bring the sacraments to the people, which helps them on their path to leading holier lives.

"The priest exists to offer the faithful the means Christ made available for this journey of progressive sanctification," he said. By offering the sacraments, "the priest becomes the servant of sanctity and communion of the baptized."

Pope Benedict XVI often emphasized the priests' special familiarity with and dedication to God's truth. The priest, as pastor, was to guide the faithful along the right path that leads to true joy and happiness.

"As priests we must communicate to people the joy for the fact that the right way in life has been shown," he said, concluding the Year for Priests in 2010.

The Good Shepherd, for Pope Benedict, was also a strong fearless guardian. The shepherd's staff must be used, he said, to "protect the faith against counterfeiters, against tendencies that are, in reality, disorienting." And the staff is also strong support to help one "walk on difficult paths and follow the Lord."

Yet that strength and determination are found in humility and tireless service, he showed, when he held up St. John Vianney -- the patron saint of parish priests -- as the role model for priests.

"The Cure of Ars was very humble," he said in his letter declaring the Year for Priests. "A good shepherd, a pastor after God's heart, is the greatest treasure which the good Lord can grant to a parish, and one of the most precious gifts of divine mercy," he quoted the priest as saying.

So many of the virtuous qualities Pope Benedict highlighted in St. Vianney mirror the same things Pope Francis has been underlining.

The French priest was "a great hospital of souls;" he was available day and night for his people, "ready to listen and offer forgiveness"; he knew it was not the sinner who returns to God, but "God who runs after the sinner and makes him return to him," Pope Benedict wrote in his letter.

Pope Francis told priests in Rome that his focus on mercy comes from St. John Paul, who had the prophetic intuition "that this was the time for mercy," and that "slowly it progressed" from there.

There are no new recipes for being good pastors, Pope Francis told clergy and pastoral workers in Assisi in 2013.

But there are many qualities different popes have pinpointed such as saints, sages and servants. Each pope continues to call on priests to carry on the fullness of Christ's ministry on earth with the sacraments, the truth and God's infinite love. 

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Follow Glatz on Twitter: @CarolGlatz.

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