Those who do not know Golgotha, who have not truly tasted the Sacrifice of its Blood, cannot have a true Christian love. As a “new commandment”, Jesus allowed in the world the Christian love, as something that required a new life, a changed life or a life fashioned from the dough of the Gospel. Only when people will live this sort of life, Christian love will blossom in their hearts.

True Christian love, that is living and beneficial, can be achieved only after you have put your life in the light of God’s love, and this light can be found only at the foot of Christ’s cross. Only kneeling before the cross you can earn that sacred, all-enduring love (1 Corinthians 13). Christian love is a pristine flower that will blossom only if planted on the soil of the hearts soaked with the Sacrificial Blood of Golgotha.

Those who do not know Golgotha, who have not truly tasted the Sacrifice of its Blood, cannot have a true Christian love. As a “new commandment”, Jesus allowed in the world Christian love, as something that required a new life, a changed life or a life fashioned from the dough of the Gospel. Only when people will live this sort of life, Christian love will blossom in their hearts.

(Translation from: Preot Iosif Trifa, Mai lângă Domnul meu, Editura Oastea Domnului, Sibiu, 2003, p. 78)