IGNATIAN MUSICAL LISTENING
Roberto Museo, piano, Erbarme dich, mein Gott by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 244), recording from the study afternoon L’eredità spirituale di Papa Francesco, Pontificia Università Gregoriana, 28 April 2026.
Aria text:
Have mercy on me, my God; behold my tears!
Look here, heart and eyes;
they weep bitterly before you.
Have mercy!
We place ourselves in a posture of listening before one of Bach’s pieces most loved by Pope Francis: the aria Erbarme dich, from the St Matthew Passion.
Today we hear it in a particular form, in a transcription for piano. This choice is not accidental: stripped of the human voice and the lament of the solo violin, the melody appears even more bare, essential, almost stripped to the bone. What remains is the structure of the prayer, the pure heartbeat of a soul turning to its Creator.
Let us now place ourselves in that night two thousand years ago. Let us imagine standing outside the courtyard of the high priest. The air is sharp, the darkness is deep. In a corner, we catch sight of Peter. He has just met the gaze of Jesus after the third denial, and the crowing of the rooster has torn through the silence, bringing with it the truth.
As Pope Francis reminds us: “The holiness of Peter does not consist in never having failed, but in having had the courage to let himself be looked upon by Jesus after betraying him.” It is a gaze that says: “Peter, I know you, I know what you are like. Come back home.”
Listen to these notes. Feel how the rhythm seems like the beating of an anxious heart, a heart that trembles because it has failed, yet cannot stop hoping. Peter goes out into the darkness and weeps bitterly.
“God never tires of forgiving,” Francis repeats, “it is we who grow tired of asking for his mercy.”
As we listen, we contemplate the gaze of the companion Jesus, as between two friends. And we allow this weeping of Peter to become our prayer today: “Lord, look at me with love, for I need you.”
Happy listening.
The translations of the aria text and of the quotations from Pope Francis are by the Editorial Staff.
