|
Brethren,
We are
constantly educated of the rituals in our Lodge through scheduled
Officers
School of Instruction (OSI), one of which we have just completed on
January 17 2012. This keeps us up to date, well-versed and accurate with
our rituals in order to deliver the message to our candidates.
At the initiation of a candidate we deliver the
Ancient Charge, relating to Masonic conduct in the Lodge, at home, and
in your community. When all is carried out in strict accordance with the
prescribed format, certain invaluable and incomparable landmarks will
stay with the candidate forever. It is wisely left to the discretion of
the presiding officers to add anything by way of illustration or
admonition, that may appear advisable, provided of course, that in all
things, the ancient landmarks are respected. Let us make the candidate
leave the lodge after each conferral with the impression and proper
ideas that are frequently entertained by newly made Masons. Let the new
brother leave with the idea that he will become a better man or that a
portion of the ceremony means for him to be properly disciplined to
enable him to exert the talents that God has given him to help his
fellow creatures.
It is not reasonable to expect that very
quickly the candidate will grasp the meaning of what have been given in
the lecture and charge but let us make it his business as a Mason, to
arrive at the hidden meanings. It would behoove us then to reiterate to
the candidate that more can be learned from masonry when he keeps
himself close to the lodge and to the brethren.
A quote from Hiram’s Podium says, “True
Masonry exists in the heart. It is composed of Brotherly Love, Relief,
and Truth, and is that heavenly consummation of all virtues, Charity, so
beautifully explained in the Volume of Sacred Law, as “bearing all
things, hoping all things, believing all things, enduring all things,
and thinking no evil.” It is the practice of this virtue that our
Masonic efforts should ever tend, not only in its common acceptation of
monetary relief, but as embracing true, brotherly love, fully,
inculcated, in the sacred writings.
Initiation alone never did, nor ever can, make
a man a true Mason. It gives the key, but mere possession of that key
does not constitute ownership of the treasure. It sows the seed, but
unless the soil is good, and carefully cultivated, the fruit will not be
produced. It opens the portal, but unless the road is traversed, that
goal cannot be attained. It lays the foundation, but without labor, the
construction, cannot be raised.”
Therefore, we give the key, and we sow the
seed, open the portal, and lay the foundation. It is for the new brother
with assistance from among Masons these can always be obtained, by
seeking for it in the proper time and manner to complete the work. Let
us help the brother and let us not keep him waiting.
Sincerely,
Sonny Lopez, Senior Warden
|