A spirituality of accompaniment has a beginning and destination. The point of arrival is known but unreachable without the intentionality of the journey and attentiveness to the path. Accompaniment is both an act of presence and mediation. It is never a one-sided affair with one as captain and the other as shipmate. Instead, both are travelers on the same road toward the same goal. The gifts of the one strengthens and complements the gifts of the other. The sharing becomes itself a gift for new insight. Such a spirituality is not by chance but by choice. It is an act of covenanting. The goal of both travelers is the betterment and empowering of the other and it is in that caring for the other shown in moments of participation and mediation that both parties rediscover their own gifts and become instruments of God.
Taking a look at the lives and journeys of St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal offers us a window into such a spirituality of accompaniment. The proof of its authenticity is in its boundless expanse. Both Francis and Jane moved beyond their own journeys and the particular details of their shared road to holiness and offered to the world a model that became immediately intelligible and accessible.
[John Roche]
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