“In contemplating Christ’s face, we confront the most paradoxical aspect of his mystery, as it emerges in his last hour on the Cross. More than an experience of physical pain, his passion was an agonizing suffering of the soul…
The Church pauses in contemplation of this bleeding Face, which conceals the life of God. But her contemplation of Christ’s Face cannot stop at the image of the Crucified One. It is the Risen Christ to whom the Church now looks! Gazing on the Face of Christ, the Bride contemplates her treasure and her joy, and sets out once more on her journey to proclaim Christ to the world!”
St John Paul II