But far be it from me to glory, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world said Saint Paul.

Let us direct today our gaze toward Christ, a gaze frequently distracted by scattered and passing earthly interests. Let us pause to contemplate His Cross. The cross, fount of life and school of justice and peace, is the universal patrimony of pardon and mercy. It is permanent proof of a self-emptying and infinite love that brought God to become man, 
vulnerable like us, unto dying crucified - Pope Benedict XVI