Who is involved in the apostolate of accompaniment? 33
“is deeply loving”
One who is called to the apostolate of accompaniment must engage in
the accompanying relationship with love for the Person of Christ, the one
accompanied, and Church. A mentor who is able to provide fruitful ac-
companiment is open and free to love others based on their own awareness
of the deep love of God for themselves. This love is not self-interested or
selfish, but cultivates a style of accompaniment that is mutual, life-giving,
and liberating. In the accompanying relationship, this love takes a particu-
lar form: tenderness. Tenderness inspires a two-fold beauty in “the beauty
of feeling loved by God” and “the beauty of feeling like loving in the name
of God” (General Audience, September 2018). By the loving presence of the
mentor, the one accompanied is able to experience God’s mercy and ten-
derness and is instilled with the desire to love others. In the formation of
relationship with the one accompanied, the mentor is called to exercise this
tenderness in large and small ways. Overall, the mentor must will the good
of the one they accompany, praying for, encouraging, and guiding them
towards Christ. The mentor must also continue to carry out the aposto-
late in the details of the accompanying relationship to “create an open and
evangelizing environment... a place where the risen Lord is present, sancti-
fying it in accordance with the Father’s plan” (Gaudete et Exsultate, 145). It
is in attending to the small details of the accompanying relationship with
tenderness that the work of love is accomplished. The quality of tenderness
in a mentor reflects the embodiment of a “‘moving theology’: one that is
not narcissistic, but extends to serve the community, and one that does not
settle with repeating past paradigms, but that reflects the Incarnate Word”
(General Audience, September 2018).
“and self-aware”
Because accompaniment is fundamentally an apostolate articulated
through the “human-ness” of the mentor, it is influenced by the human
condition. The human condition brings with it challenges, joys, difficulties,
and advantages; all of these affect the way the human person relates to their
Creator, neighbor, and world, either inviting the presence of God into the
person’s life or excluding God from their interactions. Within the aposto-
late of accompaniment, self-awareness dictates the way in which a mentor
intentionally invites God into the accompanying relationship through the