Grace Can Do More: Spiritual Accompaniment and Spiritual Growth

Spiritual accompaniment-patient listening and honest openness has become
widespread among Christians of many traditions in recent years. Is this
modern application of an ancient 'discernment of spirits' the best way
for individual persons and groups of Christians to be formed as the
People of God?

Can anyone today accompany another person's
spiritual experience without a sound knowledge of psychology? Do
spiritual accompaniment and psychological therapy overlap? Can one
replace the other? Should an accompanist also be a therapist, as some
have suggested?

Writing from his years of experience in a
cistercian monastery, in which spiritual accompaniment is a living
tradition, the author reflects on some first steps towards answering
these questions.