Brethren:

To practice out of the Lodge, those great moral duties that are taught within its walls is what we are urged to do by our Chaplain at the close of each Lodge meeting. While the emphasis of our fraternity is the betterment of the individual Mason, we find that service to the community can have a beneficial impact on our community and our fraternity as a whole. It was in this spirit that Hollywood-West Valley Lodge purchased its own computer equipment two years ago for use in the Child Identification Program. We will be hosting a Kid's ID Breakfast in our dining hall on Sunday, May 2nd as part of our Lodge's participation in the Los Angeles Big Sunday Inter-Faith Community Project.

Each of us receives a Masonic Bible upon being raised to the degree of Master Mason. The Bible is a rich source of metaphoric symbolism that is used extensively in our degree ceremonies to convey moral lessons that are the foundation of modern speculative Masonry. The evolution of the Bible, Square and Compass as furniture of the Lodge parallels the evolution of our Fraternity from the operative craft guilds of the middle ages who constructed the great gothic cathedrals which conveyed ecclesiastical symbolism before the invention of printing made the rapid dissemination of religious literature possible.

A passage from scripture in the New Testament (First Corinthians, Chapter 13) says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not Charity, I become as sounding brass, or tinkling cymbals", urges us during our Second Degree ritual to revere Charity towards our fellow man as part of the period of manhood in our adult lives which produces works of wealth and beauty. The last verse of the passage says, "And now abideth Faith, Hope and Charity, these three: but the greatest of these is Charity." As Masons we are taught that we must have faith in God, hope of immortality after life, and charity for all mankind. Charity extends beyond the grave through the boundless realm of eternity even when faith is lost from our sight and hope is ended without obtaining the objectives we strived to achieve.

The ritual of each of our degree ceremonies represent the stages of man in youth, manhood and old age. We are led to conclude that youth properly directed, leads us to honorable and virtuous maturity. We are taught that the life of man, regulated by morality, faith and justice will be rewarded at its closing hour, by the prospect of eternal bliss.

In each of our degrees, the candidate takes part in a morality play that is intended to teach moral lessons necessary for honorable and virtuous lives. And, in the third and final degree, we are taught that the greatest of all Masonic lessons is that Divine assistance is bequeathed to us through the medium of prayer.

Fraternally yours,

Marco Romey, PM

Junior Warden

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