40 The Art of Accompaniment
the spiritual works of mercy, whereby the mentor provides guidance that
assists the one they accompany in accessing spiritual needs (Catechism of the
Catholic Church, #1247). Therefore, accompaniment requires a commitment
to service through which the mentor humbles themselves to seek Christ
with the one accompanied on the spiritual journey. This commitment to
service in the apostolate of accompaniment is rooted in an incarnational
spirituality that “willingly enters into the ‘joys and hopes, the grief and
anguish’ (Gaudium et Spes, 1) of the people of our time, making one as fully
and faithfully present to every person and culture as Christ is” (Co-Workers
in the Vineyard of the Lord, p. 39). To foster the mentor's ability to accompa-
ny, a love of service to the human person is paramount.
A mentor cultivates this commitment to service and incarnational spir-
ituality through praxis. Formation of this type includes engaging the cor-
poral and spiritual works of mercy, serving the poor, vulnerable, and mar-
ginalized, and prayerful reflection upon these opportunities.
The Word of God
Since the apostolate of accompaniment is a means of spreading the
Gospel through the engagement of lived human experience, the mentor
must be themselves formed in the Word of God:
All evangelization is based on that word, listened to, meditated
upon, lived, celebrated and witnessed to. The sacred Scriptures are
the very source of evangelization. Consequently, mentors must be
constantly trained in hearing the word. The Church does not evan-
gelize unless she constantly lets herself be evangelized. (Evangelii
Gaudium, 174)
Mentors that are trained in hearing the Word, praying with the Word,
and preaching the Word through the witness of their lives instill in those
accompanied inspiration to do the same. In a life and apostolate that is
empowered and sustained by the Word of God, mentors invite others to be
hearers and doers of the Word (James 1:22).
A mentor is formed in the Word of God by praying with Scripture,
learning about the relationship between Scripture and the mission of the
church, and cultivating an ability to reflect upon and connect the events of
human life with the words of Scripture: