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