--A verb is a part of speech
that denotes action.
Go
Go out (into the whole world)
Make
Make disciples (of all the nations)
Baptize (them)
In the name of the Father
And of the Son
And of the Holy Spirit
(Share with them our life)
Welcome them into the community of our love
(Reveal to them their true identity)
Teach (them)
To observe (the commandments)
Know
Know that
I am with you (always)
Immanuel
God with us.
An Ascension Christian is a verb person, a person of action.
The Christian is a missionary, one who will not sit home,
but will leave comfort and comfort zones with the love of God burning in their hearts.
Disciples are made – by welcoming people into our hearts.
Disciples are made – by welcoming people into an embracing community.
In Baptism, heaven and earth meet in us.
The powerful seed of faith is sown.
We are God’s children, and brothers and sisters
of the same Father God and Mother Church.
Teaching most often happens, not in a classroom;
It happens in the home, in friendships on the sly, what we see out of the corner of the eye; how we treat, talk about, and care for each other.
Teaching comes only after the experience of being welcomed as a disciple into the community of disciples.
Baptism only makes sense in the context of community.
We have to know who before we learn what.
Who is God? Who am I and whose am I?
Jesus remains with us forever;
In Eucharist, in the Word, and in the Community of the disciples, the Church.
--Fr. John McKenna, C.Ss.R.,
Ascension Verbs
Image source: Rembrandt, The Ascension of Jesus (1636), https://www.wga.hu/html_m/r/rembrand/12passio/05passio.html
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