Spiritual accompaniment is intended to help people integrate step by step the various dimensions of their lives so as to follow the Lord Jesus. In this process three elements can be identified: listening of life, encounter with Jesus and mysterious dialogue between God’s freedom and that of the individual. Those who accompany should be welcoming and patient, they elicit pertinent questions and recognize the signs of the Spirit in the replies of the young. In personal spiritual accompaniment one learns to recognize, interpret and choose from the perspective of faith, listening to the Spirit’s promptings within every day life (cf. Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 169-173). The charism of spiritual accompaniment is not necessarily linked to ordained ministry, nor was it in the past. Never has there been so great a need as there is today for spiritual guides, fathers and mothers with profound experience of faith and humanity, over and above their intellectual preparation. In this area, the Synod devoutly hopes for a rediscovery of the immensely fruitful resource of consecrated life, especially its female form, and of well-formed laypersons, young and old.
TheoFonsAt the sources of the faith