The Art of Accompaniment Book | Page 18

8 The Art of Accompaniment affirming that each person’s salvation is intimately bound to relationship with others: “In salvation history, the Lord saved one people. We are never completely ourselves unless we belong to a people. That is why no one is saved alone, as an isolated individual. Rather, God draws us to himself, tak- ing into account the complex fabric of interpersonal relationships present in a human community. God wanted to enter into the life and history of a people” (Gaudete et Exsultate, 1.6). Spiritual accompaniment is the apostolate of intentional relationship that is oriented toward a definitive direction of growth in holiness and transformation in the Person of Christ. It is intentional in that it is es- tablished by a choice, maintained through deliberate communication and interaction, and upheld through the mutual investment of both persons in- volved. Accompaniment is an apostolate because all the faithful have the duty and ability to practice it by virtue of their baptismal call: The Church was founded for the purpose of spreading the king- dom of Christ throughout the earth for the glory of God the Father, to enable all men to share in His saving redemption, and that through them the whole world might enter into a relation- ship with Christ. All activity of the Mystical Body directed to the attainment of this goal is called the apostolate, which the Church carries on in various ways through all her members. For the Chris- tian vocation by its very nature is also a vocation to the apostolate. No part of the structure of a living body is merely passive but has a share in the functions as well as life of the body: so, too, in the body of Christ, which is the Church, “the whole body . . . in keep- ing with the proper activity of each part, derives its increase from its own internal development.” (Apostolicam Actuositatem, 2) Accompaniment is not for a few ordained or specially commissioned lay ministers; it is a call put forth to all the baptized by the Spirit of God. As an apostolate of all the baptized, accompaniment can be carried out by all members of the faithful for the building up of the Church. It can be un- dertaken both formally and informally, as brief moments of encounter or life-long friendships of spiritual guidance. Though particular institutions and programs may carry it out as a function, accompaniment remains first and foremost a relationship between two people who share mutuality and reciprocity on the journey of the spiritual life. This relationship does not