Madonnas

 A couple of years ago, my essay “Madonnas” was published by The Manifest-Station. You can read it at http://themanifeststation.net/2015/01/06/madonnas/ Some of the words here come from that essay.

 

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I’m mindful of Mary today, the Jewish madonna, because January 6 is the celebration of Epiphany that commemorates when Mary welcomed the three wisdom teachers of the East. Because of their gifts for baby Jesus, she began to understand the nature of her future grief.

 

I’m also thinking of the unheralded compassion of mothers and grandmothers throughout the centuries who have taken on suffering in order to help the abused, the hungry, the poor, the disenfranchised, the widowed and the lonely. They brought healing to people from the body of the earth, and brought the spirituality and wisdom of the body and the heart into their communities of faith. 

Giving Life: Organ Donation

A year after my wife died and I donated her organs, I gathered with other donor families from around the Bay Area to give thanks and celebrate the gift of life.

You can read my short essay “Out of Death, Something” at

http://themanifeststation.net/2015/11/22/out-of-death-something/

We Are Rivers in Spring

Signs of recovery, or are we just thawing?

When we are stuck smack dap in the midst of grief’s armpit, it’s hard to tell if we’re making any progress or if we’re slowly slipping back into the yak morass. There is so much movement backward, spinning in circles, and being yanked off on detours that we don’t seem to be getting anywhere. The parade of Life is passing us by and we’re waiting for an unscheduled bus to appear and pick us up.

* If you would like to read the rest of this post, let me know and I’ll send it to you. *

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One Breath Out, my essay on grief, breathing, Pema Chodron, and Tonglen meditation has been published by The Manifest Station.

 http://themanifeststation.net/2015/05/17/one-breath-out/

New Year of Grief

My essay "Grief Walkers," on the need for kindness when people are grieving, was published today at Manifest Station. It mentions Naomi Shihab Nye's poem "Kindness."

http://themanifeststation.net/2014/12/30/grief-walkers-by-mark-liebenow-submitted-113/

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On the first New Year’s Eve after the death of a loved one, grief is a morose bear in purple that sits next to us on the couch and occasionally reaches over to claw us.

There is no late night dancing. No twirling of sparklers. No blowing of horns.

* If you would like to read the rest of this post, let me know and I’ll send it to you. *