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Sons of Liberty Lodge #
301
Messages
from the East
February 2004
A New Beginning
“From
Ancient times no Master or fellow could be absent from his lodge, especially
when warned to appear at it, without incurring a severe censure, unless it
appeared to the Master and Wardens that pure necessity hindered him.”
This is an Ancient Charge, and written
back in the days when membership in our Fraternity was hard to come by and
greatly revered by those privileged to obtain it. Now, it seems, such a notice
in our Lodge Trestle boards are empty threats.
Hearken back to when you took your oaths
at the Altar when you made a commitment to attend ALL lodge meetings, and it is
also in the obligations of a Master Mason.
We wonder how many of our members who are not separated by distance or
prevented by failing health, advanced age, or by other conflicting
responsibilities realize that when they miss a lodge meeting month after month,
year after year, they are doing a disservice not only to themselves and their
lodge, but also to their Masonic obligation?
Yes, to maintain membership in a Masonic
Lodge and to carry a paid up blue card (dues card) is honorable, but to carry a
blue card without extending the knowledge and purpose of an active Masonic
membership is of little or no value. How
can any of our absent brethren speak with authority on current Grand Lodge
programs or initiatives, or even those with their own lodge? How can they derive fellowship without the
peaceful friendships among persons that would other wise have remained at a
perpetual distance? What contribution
are they making to help build a Masonic bridge to the future, which will carry
forward our Fraternity?
Are YOU guilty of deserving a severe
censure-or do you consider the words on your lodge notice to be really nothing
more than an empty threat?
Yours
in the Bond,
W:.
Hansel F. Asmar
Worshipful
Master - 2004
How do we make good men better? (Part II)
Is “to
make good men better” a cliché” Perhaps, but phrases become clichés because
they are true, as much as because they are repeated.
Or to
put it in the context of a question about what the Masonic requirement of “
toleration” means; Tolerance or toleration, is the minimum expected in our
society. Most of the Ten Commandments
are the minimum expected-no murdering, no stealing, etc.
The
minimum is what is expected of good men. Masonry is about making good men
better; therefore a man who has improved himself in Masonry will go beyond the
minimum of refraining from ill behavior, such as bigotry and dishonesty, to
positive ethical action.
From
simple tolerance, the better man will go on to encourage and defend religious
liberty and diversity of thought. From
simple abstention, from criminal behavior, the better man will go on to promote
social, justice and eradicate the ignorance and darkness that leads others to a
life of crime.
Yours
in the Bond,
W:.
Hansel F. Asmar
Worshipful
Master-2004
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