Aline Gram Lewis

I am a wife, spiritual director, retreat leader, teacher, and writer based in Pasadena, California. The work I do is contemplative and Christ-centered — helping people grow in prayer and in their connection with God.

A second conversion

I came to spiritual direction the way many directors do — by first receiving it. The year I made the 19th Annotation Retreat of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius was the year of what I have come to think of as my second conversion. That same year, I was hired as a vocational discernment chaplain for seminary students, leading small spiritual direction groups and offering pastoral counseling. The work was, simply, a fit. It still is.

Training and study

I hold a PhD in Christian Spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where my dissertation considered conversion and the spirituality of reading in the writings of Augustine, Teresa of Ávila, and Dorothy Day. Before that, an MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, and a BA from St. John's College in Annapolis, MD, with its unique curriculum focused on the Great Books.

My formal training in spiritual direction was through Christian Formation and Discipleship Ministries in Los Angeles. My training in leading the Ignatian Exercises was through the Pierre Favre Program at the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos. I have also received training in spiritual formation for children through Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.

But the real preparation has been my own life of prayer, and the people who have trusted me with theirs.

Ministry

Before private practice, I served as a chaplain at Fuller Theological Seminary, providing pastoral care to graduate students and leading retreats. I have also worked as a chaplain in hospital and hospice settings. Sitting with the dying, and with their families, taught me what direction also asks: to remain present without trying to fix.

Some of the other ministry I do that gives me delight is serving as Children's Sunday School teacher, serving on a prayer team, and helping to lead a faith formation program for adults called Pilgrimage to Missionary Discipleship.

I am a member of Spiritual Directors International and of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality.

A note on the name

I call this practice Spark from the Fire — each of us represents a spark from the fire of God's love. I see spiritual direction as a kind of hearth where that fire can grow.