May 2012 - Hawthorne-Fortitude Masonic Lodge No. 200

(Continued from page 38)
Featured Writer- Bro. David Browning
Passing a brother to the degree of Fellow Craft
presents another opportunity for us to show the new
brother that he is important to us by working hard and
ensuring that this degree is also a good one. During this
degree the brother is more likely to absorb more of what
is occurring during the ritual than he did during his
Initiation as he will hopefully be less nervous than he
was during the preceding degree and has now realized
that these rituals are not meant to embarrass or offend,
but rather, to teach and impart the moral lessons and
knowledge that will allow him to serve our Fraternity
with honor throughout the rest of his life. Once again,
we hope that the brother will go home following his
Advancement with the same eagerness that he had on
the night of Initiation and will learn and return his
catechism to seek further light in Masonry.
perform this ceremony with the dignity and respect that
is earned through a life of devoted service to the
Fraternity. In addition, this ceremony is often the
catalyst that causes an uninitiated to seek the light of
our Fraternity.
I hope that you have found this information
valuable and that it helps to underscore the importance
of ensuring that we only perform good Masonic ritual.
I would hate for any of us to ever become aware that a
candidate has decided not to return because we did not
take our ritual seriously. The rituals of our Fraternity
have so much to offer and I sincerely hope that you will
join me in ensuring that we give our Masonic ritual the
proper level of importance so that we give our
candidates and our brethren the best possible experience
and impression of our beloved Fraternity.
Raising a brother to the Sublime degree of
Master Mason is our final opportunity to ensure that we
are putting on a good degree and ensure that the brother
learns those final lessons of morality that our symbolic
degrees are designed to impart. Unfortunately, there are
often many parts of this degree which go unrehearsed
until the night of the degree. We can only hope that this
does not present major problems during the degree. Our
hope should be that the newly raised Master Mason
continues his Masonic learning and will also have a
strong desire to assist with future degree work hopefully
become a line officer and one day rule and govern over
the lodge for a period of time.
All of our degrees, more especially the Master
Mason degree, are meant to be solemn occasions and
thus should be performed with the dignity and respect
that are due to both the candidate and the honor of our
Fraternity. We all should do our part to ensure that our
degree work can never be compared to a hazing which
is often the case of some fraternal organizations.
One last ritual which is often overlooked in
discussions of our ritual is the conferring of Masonic
Rites. The funeral service and the conferring of Masonic
Rites is our last opportunity to pay respect to a fallen
brother. In many cases it is also one of the first
impressions that many who are unfamiliar with our
Fraternity will have. We owe it to the fallen brother, his
family, friends, and loved ones to ensure that we
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