Accompaniment
In his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis adds several phrases to the growing vocabulary and vision of the New Evangelisation - a vision to which each pope has contributed since the Second Vatican Council.
One of these phrases is “the art of accompaniment”:
The Church will have to initiate everyone - priests, religious and laity - into this ‘art of accompaniment’ which teaches us to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other (cf. Ex 3:5). (Evangelii Gaudium, 169)
Pope Francis introduces this phrase in Chapter 3, “The Proclamation of the Gospel,” under the fourth section, “Evangelisation and the deeper understanding of the kerygma.” Within this context it is clear that accompaniment is a means to the end of evangelisation, not “accompaniment for accompaniment’s sake.” Pope Francis explicitly states, “Genuine spiritual accompaniment always begins and flourishes in the context of service to the mission of evangelisation” (EG, 173). He beautifully explains:
Spiritual accompaniment must lead others ever closer to God… to accompany them would be counterproductive if it became a sort of therapy supporting their self-absorption and ceased to be a pilgrimage with Christ to the Father. (EG, 170)
How are we responding to the call to accompany others? Through our actions are we leading our students closer to God? Through our witness are we creating a path for our colleagues to follow that leads to evangelisation?
Excerpt adapted from The Art of Accompaniment by Br John Paul Kern O.P.
