Greetings from the East. First and foremost I would like to wish everyone a lot of happiness, success and good fortune in 2012. Also, please allow me to thank one more time to all of those who helped in our installation both in formal installation part as well as in organization, setup and refreshments. I would like to start my first written communication to you by thanking you for the confidence you have placed in myself as well as our current cast of officers to lead our lodge through the next Masonic year. The feeling of being in the East is a truly humbling and overwhelming experience for me. I feel both honored and privileged to serve in this very active and dynamic lodge. I believe that we just finished a great masonic year for our lodge and it is great to see that in our lodge we have both; new brethren who are very active as well as a very active core of our Past Masters.
Now, a fair warning to all Past Masters, I will be asking you a lot of questions and for your advice, so you will have to get used to my, hopefully not too frequent, calls or visits. My hope for this year is that we get as close as family through “Living Freemasonry” and sharing of those masonic experiences and understandings that we cherish as an inseparable part of our own identification as a man and a mason.
Worshipful Barry Bartley informed me that there will be a meeting for those that are interested in Knights Templar or are Sir Knights and are
interested in joining a potential new Commandery in Northern Virginia. The meeting will take place on 1/17 at 7:00 PM in Bailey Room. If you are interested please come join us.
As I was thinking about what to write this month, I decided to share with all of you something I read recently hoping that you will get the same excitement from these lines: “The secret of Masonry, like the secret of life, can be known only by those who seek it, serve it and live it. It cannot be uttered; it can only be felt and acted. It is, in fact, an open secret, and each man knows it according to his quest and capacity. Like all things worth knowing, no one can know it for another and no man can know it alone.” Dr. Joseph Fort Newton
My interpretation of these lines is that in order for one to know Masonry, one cannot rely only on knowledge provided to him while going
through the three degrees. Technically after receiving the third degree a man is a master mason but is that enough for one to say that he
understands masonry? Dr. Newton stipulates that one should “seek”, “serve” and “live” Freemasonry.
Seeking Freemasonry – We are all travelling on our individual masonic paths, and each one of us has different experiences and activities that come along. However to maximize masonic experience one should be actively involved and participating in masonic events. The true rewards come to those who seek them out.
Serving Freemasonry – As all things that we care about are not free, this applies to masonry as well. In order to understand it and know it, one has to be able to give back to it. The more time and effort we commit to masonry the greater the reward we receive and more of it we are familiar
with.
Living Freemasonry – Freemasonry is not just an activity we are involved in on first and third Monday of the month and for called meetings. Masonry is about living a life of a mason and incorporating masonic principles and values into our daily doings. The real question is – are we living Freemasonry?
Although we might be travelling on different paths, the great thing about our fraternity is that it accepts all good men that have belief in God.
There are enough places for all, and according to Dr. Newton “like all things worth knowing, no one can know it for another and no man can know it alone”. Therefore, this being my first communication to you, I invite you to live Freemasonry and join up to make good men better and Herndon Lodge the best.
