Sgrios Mass: Owning Death

I want to take a moment, first, to welcome all the new Aislings who have sparked during this population boom. I hope you’re appreciating Deoch’s gift and using your inner light to help illuminate the community in which you were born. The wilds of Temuair are, indeed, teeming with monsters and, while it can be gratifying to smite them on occasions, always bear in mind that we, as Aislings, are tasked to share our inspiration, not just our strength. I sincerely hope that you’ll bear that in mind as you grow into the generation which will shape the world of the future.

With that said, I also want to welcome you to the Shrine of Sgrios; the god of decay. The devout of our faith are blessed right now to have the leadership of three members of the high clergy, and a dedicated priest that will, in short order, join us - as is His will. Moreover, it is a wonderful time to be a worshiper in Temuair, with masses being held across the eight temples of the octave. I hope you’re taking the time to not just attend the masses of your own faith, but to learn from every priest that takes the time to share a sermon, regardless of whether they are friend or foe. If you don’t think there is any knowledge to be gained by listening to someone with a conflicting ideology speak, then you’re unworthy of the spark you’ve been gifted. All are welcome here at my mass and in the Sgrios temple, so long as they share the same respect they would to their own shrine - I believe the rest of the clergy and I are in agreement on this - so please, feel welcome here. I typically announce myself when I arrive, and if you see my name on the census, you can assume I’ll be right here, as I am today, ready to serve in His name.

 Having said all that, I’m grateful to see you here today, and hope you enjoy the sermon. I will remain afterwards to answer questions or engage in any conversations, as well as assist in prayer. As you know, I live to serve.

Today I thought we could talk a bit about who owns death? A strange question, certainly, but one I’ve been pondering for quite some time.

When someone dies, we typically speak about the event as it relates to them, and why shouldn’t we? One soul disembarks; their absence is the factor that has changed, so clearly this event belongs to that person. Or does it? For the one who dies, this moment is fleeting - perhaps not even experienced at all. Yes, there are often protracted periods of suffering that come before - even sudden deaths are often accompanied by intense physical pain, fear or trauma. But by the very nature of the event, none of us will ever enjoy our own death because we’ll be… well, dead. It’d be like asking the dreamer what it's like to fall asleep.

Who else, then, could death belong to? Perhaps… to a murderer? Yes, there are many delicious tales of revenge in which someone attains fulfillment through taking the life of one who wronged them. Though this is often a pursuit chased with fury and passion, once vengeance has been sated with blood, that ferocity becomes an enduring emptiness - as vacant as death, itself. When death becomes life’s purpose, there is no way to hold the gravity of that event - as much as you may wish, that death is a hollow moment that only serves to punctuate the emptiness of revenge.

So, if death cannot be held by contempt; perhaps, then, it is cradled softly in the delicate palms of love? It seems that no one suffers from the cruelty of death more than those who loved the deceased. Whether after a protracted battle with a malicious illness or suddenly, from some accident or unseen force - death brings a heavy miasma of suffering that blankets those that had the audacity to love - to care - for another mortal being. This grief endures. It is corrosive in its suffocating influence, and seeks to fill the void left in the absence behind. But is this truly holding death? Does this imply an ownership of the end?

For the dying, death occurs in the present; for the avenger, death is a reflection of the past and the mourner faces a future influenced by the shadow death casts across indeterminate moons ahead. And while we can outline those whom death INVOLVES, none seem to truly own the moment.

This is because it cannot be owned; it cannot be chained or harnessed or focused. Death isn’t something to hold, it is not even something to comprehend. Dying is the moment in which we become divine; stepping out of the material realm into the ethereal space, leaving behind a form - leaving behind the cage of individuality to return to an ambiguity of wholeness in which we are a part of everything and defined by nothing. It is here, in the tranquility of death, that we are able, finally, to communicate with the Gods; to return to their side as the prodigal son returns to his father’s table.

Death is not something by which we can use to define any point in our mortal lives because death belongs to a different existence; it belongs to the realm of the divine. When we try to hold death - either as a hollow motivation, or as a point of transcendence, or even as a tether to a lost love - all we do is haul the anchor of hopelessness into the depths of the abyss. Leave death for the capable hands of Sgrios and trust that he calls us back when we are meant to return to His side. 

Give thanks for His knowing touch; that He calls us away from our bodies - that we are not left to toil eternally in a suffering world. Give thanks that a wound comes with pain, that a disease comes with a cough, that life comes with death.