Journey Toward Love - Lent 2015

Cover: Original artwork by Marie Rodichok

JOURNEY TOWARD LOVE A collection from the Oasis community

Lent 2015

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What’s Inside? In the following pages you will find a gathering of reflections from some of the amazing people who make up the community associated with Oasis Ministries for Spiritual Development. The call for submissions stated the simple theme of ‘journey toward love.’ It did not have to deal directly with Oasis. Enclosed are submissions we received: photos, poetry, artwork, reflections, and prayers.

Our thanks to all who submitted material. Thank you to all who continue to support Oasis, especially through prayer. As you read and reflect, may you be inspired to journey toward love with us.

Oasis Ministries for Spiritual Development 419 Deerfield Road, Camp Hill, PA 17011 717.737.8222 * www.oasismin.org

Table of Contents

untitled artwork, Marie Rodichok .............................................................................................................Cover

The Journey Toward Love Is, Cindy Garis ........................................................................................................ 3

Native Flute, Cheri Roth .................................................................................................................................. 4

Our Love has given us Wings to Fly, Kathyann E. Corl ..................................................................................... 5

Cloud taking the shape of a heart in Ontario Canada, Denise Crawn ............................................................ 5

The Woods, Kelly Chripczuk .............................................................................................................................. 6

A Heart in a tree at Kirkridge, Denise Crawn .................................................................................................... 6

Living Love as a Beautiful Angel, Kathyann E. Corl .......................................................................................... 7

Cosmic Love, Ellen Dionna ................................................................................................................................ 7

Lauds, Ellen Dionna .......................................................................................................................................... 7

My Prayer, Diana Barbera ................................................................................................................................ 8

Yellow flowers, Diana Barbera ......................................................................................................................... 8

Heart stone on Iona, Denise Crawn .................................................................................................................. 8

I’m Making Breakfast, Josie Byzek .................................................................................................................... 9

The Night Will Hold You, Kelly Chripczuk ........................................................................................................ 10

untitled photo, John Chripczuk ....................................................................................................................... 11

The Journey Toward Love has Many Paths, Yvonne Wilson .......................................................................... 12

Another Road, Stephanie Stover ..................................................................................................................... 13

I Have Grown More Simple, Pat Thomas ........................................................................................................ 14

Bleeding Heart found floating in the tarn at Kirkridge, Denise Crawn ........................................................... 15

Our Love is a Sanctuary and a Celebration, Kathyann E. Corl ........................................................................ 15

Love creates a Symphony, Kathyann E. Corl .................................................................................................. 16

Love Light, Ellen Dionna .................................................................................................................................. 16

Heart-filled messages, Denise Crawn ............................................................................................................. 17

To Love What is Passing, Kelly Chripczuk .................................................................................................. 18-19

Heart shape flowers, Ireland, Denise Crawn................................................................................................... 19

The Gift: Perfect Love, Deirdre Whitfield ........................................................................................................ 20

Tree of Love, Wanda Veldman........................................................................................................................ 20

Backyard Tragedy, Josie Byzek ....................................................................................................................... 21

Nature’s Beauty Births Tomorrows, Kathyann E. Corl ................................................................................... 21

Love is still around us, Kathyann E Corl ......................................................................................................... 22

The Spouting Cave on Iona splashing love, Denise Crawn ............................................................................. 23

List of Contributors ......................................................................................................................................... 24

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Photo submission by Cindy Garis

What I’ve learned from assembling this e-book for you...from our community:

The Journey Toward Love is

...Tragic and Sacred

...Terrifying and Beautiful

...Opening and Astounding

...Gentle and Harsh

...Erotic and Hopeful

...Intensely Personal and Passionately Communal

...Grace and Confusion

Deep Mystery.

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Photo submission by Cheri Roth (accompanies audio recording below)

Native Flute (audio & video recording) - http://youtu.be/VGApmZ5Lzn8

By Cheri Roth

Note: Cheri Roth shares her electronic reflection via a (3-minute) YouTube link (Our first

sound recording included in one of our e-books!) Click on the link above to access her

original native flute piece.)

Cheri hiked out on her snow shoes on a 3 mile hike to the creek along the path where

she goes to walk/run in Caledonia. This stream is off the fitness trail. The

accompanying audio is Cheri on her bass flute. With the help of her technologically-

savvy daughter, she was able to post it to YouTube for us all to enjoy.

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Our Love has given us Wings to Fly By Kathyann E. Corl

When we met my life was filled with shadows

With empty fleeting images which lasted from moments to hours

My days and nights had melded into an endless abyss

Life had become a cocoon and the sunlight beyond my reach.

In this time of hollow darkness, shadows lingered in my heart,

Feelings and emotions had grown inwards, into the cocoon,

Tightly wound with fear and anxiety, brittle to the touch,

Living was barely an existence on the verge of the edge.

Into this abyss, existence required change and friendships and supports began

Our friendship began slowly as we found ourselves sharing time together

We were both brittle with pain from the past and found it difficult to trust

Building our friendship evolved as the metamorphosis of the cocoon began.

Frost left the trees, as spring allowed the new leaves to grow and evolved into summer

Your friendship became a source of warmth and caring allowing my cocoon to unravel

As summer grew into autumn our connection towards each other continued to grow

Unveiling the beauty that was deeply hidden within each of us as individuals.

As our cocoons unraveled, we began to grow towards each other as a couple

Experiencing a connection that united our bodies, minds and souls

Evolving, blending, molding and creating a connection that was united.

From within these cocoons, two butterflies emerged from their metamorphosis

Timid and uncertain, yet nurtured by the strength of this joint Love

Vibrant with the colors of sunlight and stardust these butterflies emerged

Connected with the power of Love these butterflies began the journey of Life.

These butterflies found the strength to lift their wings towards the skies.

“Cloud taking the shape of a heart in

Ontario Canada,” photo submission by

Denise Crawn

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The Woods by Kelly Chripczuk

Within you dwells a wood -

there are trails, some old and overgrown,

others fresh-cut and, between them, wide

open spaces filled with untamed growth.

In those woods you are every age

you have ever been, every age you will be.

Those woods walk up the mountain and over

the other side; those woods go on forever.

In them stand ancient trees, sturdy, scarred

and thick. Those woods whisper

your name, "Be who you are,"

they sigh, "this is all that was ever needed."

“A Heart in a tree at Kirkridge,”

photo submission by Denise Crawn

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LAUDS By Ellen Dionna

Prayers to the winds

in a misted circle

whose circumference

is nowhere.

Dancing to embrace

dawn’s firmament

folded into my heart.

One ecstatic moment

arcs me exultantly aloft

to meet Beloved’s longing kiss

Light-ravished

I surrender into

His morning dream of me.

COSMIC LOVE By Ellen Dionna

Beloved,

I hurl roses--

thorn and bloom—into

your Firmament--

petaled offerings of

my devotion, and

You saw them as

spangled stars

blossoming in my heart--

My wild radiance shines for you,

the gift of our love

a supernova

guiding those

who would seek

heart-stars.

Living Love as a Beautiful Angel By Kathyann E. Corl

Today you are a beautiful angel

Beaming with the Love that I shared with you as my daughter

In this world on earth I live with the pain of your loss everyday

Yet I have made a choice to live your life of passion

As I reach for the Evening Star each night

I touch your spirit with the totality of your essence

Your joyful smile is beaming through the heavens

Daring us to dream of impossibilities

That can become possible here on earth.

Your gentle and loving laugh is coloring the heavens

Echoing with a vibrant passionate paintbrush of love

The colors of the sunset setting behind the mountain.

Your beauty as an angel beams on the earth

Planting dreams of embracing life to the fullest

Creating double rainbows

That spread across the circumference of the earth.

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MY PRAYER By Diana Barbera

It’s not in having more

Or searching for things outside

But going deep within

We find the truth resides.

Let every day be sacred

With the knowledge of beyond

What lies on the surface

To the treasures in our pond.

And to open to the prize

That each of us truly is

No matter all the lies

We’ve believed about our IS.

For we are innocent creatures

Trying as best we can

To live the life we’re given

With soul and heart opened.

Dented though we may be,

We deserve each spark of light

And love that we can see

To help us on our way

To blossom . . . beautifully.

“A heart stone on

Iona,” photo

submission by

Denise Crawn

“Yellow flowers,” original watercolor by Diana Barbera

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I’m Making Breakfast by Josie Byzek

I’m at the stove and

I’m frying eggs and planning this year’s garden in my mind

While you are dying.

I’m pushing with the spatula, salting and peppering,

Turning and flipping and popping down the bread

While you, my friend, are still dying.

Outside the neighbors are taking down their dead tree,

Outside mated birds are singing and weaving with twigs

Outside tulips are pushing through, despite the last snow still clinging.

While you are planning on no plans.

While you are not trimming or chopping

While you are not even going to eat these eggs I just made

While you just stare and talk of what took place, and try not to dwell on

What will not take place.

I’m going to walk the dog, and she’s going to smell every damn bush,

Every damn rock between here and the park,

Noting where the rabbits are and the squirrels are

And the bigger dogs have been.

I’m going to note whether the turtles are out yet,

And whose toddlers are bike-ready, pedals turning,

As they practice running away,

As they practice being grown.

And you, my friend,

You —

Stubbornly, insistently, maddeningly,

Are still dying.

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The Night Will Hold You

by Kelly Chripczuk

(with photo on page 11 taken by John Chripczuk)

When the grief you carry

wears your face into a thousand

heavy lines, when the sadness

feels like a knife splitting

your very body in two,

night will come at last.

With the children tucked safe

in their beds, you will stand

in the doorway of your own

darkened room and the night

will welcome you with its wide,

and gentle embrace.

How can I explain that this

is what you need, what you

have waited for, this knowing

that the darkness is nothing

to fear? You will lie down

on your bed, half curled

around the old, old wound,

with your face turned toward

the windows. Weeping,

your eyes will search

outlines of trees, the few

bright stars captured in your

window’s frame.

Now that you are no longer afraid,

the night will hold you with its velvet

love, the emptiness of the darkness

sidling up against you as the well

of grief pours out.

“There's something comforting

about the darkness,” you will tell

your husband when he finds you there.

Instinctively, like the night, he will curl

himself around you offering not words,

but himself to hold you, his flesh

echoing in physicality the sweet

silent night that draws you close.

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Photo submission by John Chripczuk

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"The Journey Toward Love has many paths.

We are blessed to have the ability to choose ours." ~ Yvonne Wilson

Original digital artwork by Yvonne Wilson

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“Having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they left for

their own country by a different road.” (Matthew 2:12, ISV)

Another Road

By Stephanie Stover

Returning by another road,

I’ve learned that the journey

is not at all about

the destination.

Rather, it consists of

the twists and the turns,

the dust in your eyes

that clouds your vision;

the faith and the trust

that become your companions,

the starting and the stopping

all along the way.

A camel stores up water

for such arduous travels,

but I’ve been led to water

from another, greater well;

to learn to drink more deeply

from the springs that give my spirit life,

and dwell in the house that mercy builds

until I reach my home.

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I HAVE GROWN MORE SIMPLE By Pat Thomas

As the world has grown more complicated,

I have grown more simple.

As the world trips and stumbles over its plans, policies and procedures,

I simply follow Jesus on the path of love.

As the world argues and complains,

I grow more silent.

As the world busies itself building monuments to itself,

I simply stand in awe of the beauty and majesty of sunrises and sunsets.

As the world clamors for money and power,

I pray for peace of mind, soul and spirit.

As the world rejects and denounces God,

I hide safely under the shadows of his wings

And walk with him in the cool of the day.

As the world grows bitter and lonely,

I enjoy his sweet Presence.

As the world wars with itself,

I walk in the peace that passes all understanding.

As the world grows dim,

I live enlightened by God.

As the world talks and says nothing,

I listen to God and receive wisdom.

As the world has grown more complicated,

I have grown more simple.

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Our Love is a Sanctuary and a Celebration By Kathyann E. Corl

Today we meet in the Chapel to begin our celebration

Our sanctuary and sacred space where we can spend our lives together

We have shared our experiences and our lives

Discussing our philosophies about life with each other

Through sharing heart-heart talks

We recognize that our time is a treasure

A blessing of love that so few truly find in their lives

Together we will live our lives

Making love a sanctuary and a celebration

Making each moment more precious than the one before.

For in the core of our relationship

There is a deep respect and love for each other

Through happiness and heartbreak

Each day we will be a daily inspiration of the hope

Cherishing the essence of what we are and will become

Through the sun rises and sun sets of our days

We will share a love that binds us together

Together we will live our lives

Making love a sanctuary and a celebration

Making each moment more precious than the one before.

“Bleeding Heart found floating in the tarn at

Kirkridge,” photo submission by Denise Crawn

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Love Creates a Symphony By Kathyann E. Corl

Love is all encompassing

Hearing silence and recognizing within it

Harmonies that only those partners who love can hear.

Together, they hear the words that speak to their hearts

They create symphonies that make them whole.

Love is a part of a union that is created in the heavens

Unions that are created in this world are marked with fragmented notes

They are marked with disjointed tunes of discontent.

This symphony becomes a statement of Love

It becomes our choice how in-tune or out-of-tune that symphony grows

Love has the power within its essence to create beauty

A Symphony of notes blended from individual tones into a wondrous rhapsody

Love’s beauty exists in the eyes and heart of one’s beloved

For in the presence of one’s beloved this symphony becomes a harmony for life.

The wonder of the symphony is that it grows, and matures, as it grows beyond

The composition of notes that are scrawled across the page.

This symphony that can over time

Become written on the hearts of the partners

Partners that are striving to give all to the Creator.

Partners who together create a composition

That uniquely expresses the beauty of our lives.

LOVE LIGHT By Ellen Dionna

Oh Holy Beloved

you lie with me in

shimmering loveliness

my body a river of light

in your arms--

cascading incandescence.

I open to you

my ardent flesh

receiving creation

in your jeweled seed.

Ecstatic, I worship

Holy One,

abandon myself to

your searing love.

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“A heart-filled message found while walking

in the woods at Kirkridge (both the heart in

the leaves and moss heart shape),”

photo submissions by Denise Crawn

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"To Love What is Passing" by Kelly Chripczuk

I watch the sunrise each morning. Reading, writing, I pause to turn toward the

window. At first all is black, night’s heavy velvet stretched. With every glance the

scene changes, like clicking through slides in a view finder. Fog shifts, blue spreads

wide one day, then purple or even green the next. Mist rises off the river I cannot see

from here, ghostly lines of white revealing the river’s path.

In the evening I bend and twist while washing dishes, watching the light change

again through the kitchen windows. The sun sets out one side of the house morphing

clouds into relief, filling spaces with yellow, etching outlines in gold or pink. On the

other side of the house the light also changes.

“Rainbow, rainbow,” my son shouts and we all run out the closest door like a crowd

fleeing a burning building. Scurrying around the yard, we search for openings

between the tall pines, the out buildings, where the biggest arcs of red, yellow, indigo

and all the rest can be seen running like a road through layers of clouds and light.

The sky’s show changes quickly, morphing like trees in fall.

None of this lasts for long.

//

My little boy gives me twelve kisses at bedtime each night, rapid-fire smacks one right

after the other, an exertion of pure love on his part. He lays his claim of love on me,

pressing lips to my cheek and I count to hold them close, these kisses like shafts of light

buried in my heart, memories of this passing season of such open love and affection.

The other night, he woke to go to the bathroom and sat waiting for me on the

hallway floor, cross-legged, his head bobbing and weaving like a sleepy kitten.

Standing in the bathroom, unsteady, he makes it known, “Me love everyone.”

His heart is open wide like the sky, filled with light and shifting colors that wash across

his face with every changing emotion. This boy of mine moves so quickly soaking in

the joy and light of each moment, no matter the shade.

Last night he marched happy through the kitchen with a giant bowl of plain rigatoni

tucked under his arm. He didn’t get to go to the Halloween parade with Daddy and

his older siblings and when his twin brother asked about the plan, he replied, “Me stay

home with Mommy . . . and the noodles.”

When I asked what he loved more – Mommy or the noodles – “Me love noodles,” was

his smiling reply.

(Continued on page 19)

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//

To love what is passing, to open one’s heart to what is in each moment, is to live

deeply, fully. No one pleasure or delight lasts for long and in its passing we expose

ourselves to potential loss and grief. But to live closed off from each moment for fear

of its passing is to rob ourselves of much that is truly precious in this life.

Knowing this, I bend my cheek to receive the kisses, I turn my head toward the

window, I run toward the rainbow, toward each moment to embrace it with arms

open wide as I teach my heart to say, "Me love," over and over again.

(Continued from page 18)

“Heart shape flowers, Ireland,“

photo submission Denise Crawn

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“Tree of Love” Photo Submission by

Wanda Veldman (right)

This is a six foot square quilted wall-

hanging I made in memory of my

beloved grandmother, Viola. It took

me ten years to finish as I worked

through my grief and gathered the

pattern ideas and materials that

gave honor to her memory.

The quilt blocks are:

*8 Job's Tears blocks surrounding a Tree

of Life block.

*The outside board is all crazy quilting

with many items she made by hand

included and family names and dates

embroidered in many of the blocks.

The Gift: Perfect Love

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Nature’s Beauty Births Tomorrows By Kathyann E. Corl

In the moments of profound silence

Through the stillness of the night wind

From amidst the trees, I see the shadow of my beloved

We embrace each other with a hug

Linking together our lives amidst nature’s beauty.

It is in the wonder of this profound starlight

Beneath the brilliance of Orian’s belt

That we are drawn to look into each others eyes

Allowing our hand to be held together with a silver thread

Of growth, possibilities and tomorrows.

Backyard Tragedy By Josie Byzek

The year spring came in fits and starts,

All the fish died in our small backyard pond,

Calico and brightest orange bodies leached of tint

And left white, naked on the snow when netted out.

The dirt too hard to dig,

They had been left under a drift in the compost pile.

And when the snow melted,

They were exposed.

The boy cried upon finding them,

Horrified, thinking they had swum to their death

Through a frozen water land

That had to melt eventually

Their small bodies regathered tenderly,

We interred them on the one warm, soft day that season,

A painted blue rock to hold them down,

Lest they try to swim away again.

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Love is still around us, By Kathyann E. Corl

Love is here today around us

In places where we would never look

Because we are so busy rushing through the day

That we dull our awareness to the wonder of the Creator’s Love.

Love has never left us

Even when we are in our darkest moments of the soul

Love embraces us and renews us

With its strength making us whole.

Love is in the face of those, we choose to call Friend,

And those we do not choose.

Love is in the touch in the eyes and in the heart and soul of a friend

A Love that they share with us to help us lighten the load.

Love is in the laughter of a child, the spontaneity and joy

Which encourages children to embrace the world

Love is in their eyes with each new discovery

As they are amazed at the wonder of the world.

Love is in the laughter and smile

The embrace that only a child can give.

Love is the music of the heart

Allowing us to create a symphony of our lives together

Love gives us the insight, creativity and forbearance

To not only create the symphony

But then to allow it to live in our daily lives.

Love nurtures the music allowing it to stretch and grow

Beyond the boundaries that we would have created for the notes

If we would have tried to create the melodies and harmonies

Yet Love is the composer of the symphony.

Love gathers the audience that will be touched by this symphony

Love touches the lives of the musicians and the audience

Allowing the glory and wonder of Creation

To be celebrated with each note and phrase.

The music of this Love allows the joining of the heavens and the earth

As the celebration nurtures and heals each soul.

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“The Spouting Cave on Iona splashing love,”

photo submission by Denise Crawn

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Our deepest gratitude to all of our contributors and our heartfelt thanks to our proof-readers.

Many of the contributors have participated in various day or overnight retreats. All are friends of Oasis. Ones that have completed year-long programs are identified by the following Oasis acronyms: CLSDL = Contemplative Living: The Spirituality of Daily Life (one-year contemplative program) DYDM = Deepening Year for Direction Ministries (one-year program for spiritual directors) LCG = Leading Contemplative Gatherings SDSG = Spiritual Direction for Spiritual Guides (two-year training in spiritual direction) B&P = Breath and Prayer JIS = Journey Into Silence NWSE = Nurturing Women in the Sanctuary of Earth

List of Contributors In alphabetical order

Diana Barbera (page 8)—SDSG (2013-2015)

Josie Byzek (pages 9, 21)

John Chripczuk (page 11)

Kelly Chripczuk (pages 6, 10, 18-19)—SDSG graduate (2013-2014), JIS (2012-2013)

Denise Crawn (pages 5, 6, 8, 15, 17, 19, 23) -Walking Awake, LLC, www.walkingawake.com

Kathyann E. Corl (pages 5, 7, 15, 16, 21, 22)

Ellen Dionna (pages 7, 16)

Cindy Garis (page 3)—SDSG graduate (1998-1999), DYDM (2012-2013)

Marie Rodichok (front cover) — SDSG graduate (2007-2008), B&P (2013-2014)

Cheri Roth (page 4) — SDSG graduate (2009-2010), LCG (2009-2010), NWSE (2012),

DYDM (2012-2013), CLSDL (2013-2014)

Stephanie Stover (page 13) - SDSG graduate (2008-2009)

Pat Thomas (page 14)

Wanda Veldman (page 20)—SDSG graduate (1998-1999)

Deirdre Whitfield (page 20)—SDSG (2013-2015)

Yvonne Wilson (page 12)

If you are interested in participating in the Oasis community and programming, please explore www.oasismin.org, call 717.737.8222, or email [email protected]. Receive brochures by becoming a part of our mailing list, or receive free news, updates and prayers by joining our email list at www.oasismin.org. Thank you.