on Good Friday we also wish to direct our gaze to the pierced heart of the Redeemer

From Pope Benedict's Address at the recent General Audience

Good Friday, centered on the Passion, is a day of fast and abstinence, oriented to the contemplation of the cross. Proclaimed in the churches is the account of the Passion, and the words of the prophet Zechariah resound: "They shall look on him whom they have pierced" (John 19:37).

And on Good Friday we also wish to direct our gaze to the pierced heart of the Redeemer in whom, as St. Paul writes, "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3), more than that, "in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 2,9), for this reason, the Apostle can affirm his decision "to know nothing ... except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). It is true: The cross reveals "the breadth and length and height and depth" -- the cosmic dimensions, this is the meaning of a love that surpasses all knowledge -- love goes beyond what is known and fills us with "all the fullness of God" (cf. Ephesians 3:18-19).

In the mystery of the Crucified is brought about that "turning of God against himself in order to raise man up and save him. This is love in its most radical form" ("Deus Caritas Est," No. 12). The cross of Christ, wrote Pope St. Leo the Great in the fifth century, "is source of all blessings, and the cause of all blessings" (Discourse 8 on the Passion of the Lord, 6-8; PL 54, 340-342).

The Pope's speeches and writings are gems waiting to be discovered!

A Blessed Triduum to all!