Montgomery Lodge #258

Greetings Brethren,

I hope everyone had a very happy and joyous Easter, and a happy Festival of Passover, as well. I can finally say with certainty that spring seems to have arrived. (Editorial note – The Master speaks as a true Minnesotan.) My dad is out starting his gardening work at my house, which is a sure sign of spring. I trust everyone has had a chance to get out and enjoy the warmer weather, even if it is just doing some yard work.

One of the things an officer in a Lodge accepts with the badge of his office is a list of duties and responsibilities he must perform for the coming year. Whether it’s the Tyler’s duty of preparing the Lodge room for a stated communication or the Master’s duty to “Set the Craft to work and give them good and wholesome instruction for their labors”, each officer accepts these duties and responsibilities as part of the oath they take at their installation. But what exactly is meant by duty?

Wikipedia defines duty as: “Duty (from “due,” that which is owing, O. Fr. deu, did, past participle of devoir; Lat. debere, debitum; cf. “debt“) is a term that conveys a sense of moral commitment to someone or something. The moral commitment is the sort that results in action, and it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition. When someone recognizes a duty, that person commits himself/herself to the cause involved without considering the self-interested courses of actions that may have been relevant previously. This is not to suggest that living a life of duty precludes one from the best sort of life, but duty does involve some sacrifice of immediate self-interest.”

So, is it only the officers of a Lodge who have duties and responsibilities they need to perform, or does every Mason have them? The duties of a Mason begin with his completing his Entered Apprentice degree. The Grand Lodge of California’s Entered Apprentice handbook states that “The duties of Entered Apprentices and Fellow Crafts include the diligent study of the symbols, lessons, and history of Freemasonry and working to satisfy the advancement requirements”.

Albert Pike, the father of modern Scottish Rite Freemasonry, emphasized the importance of this basic duty when he said:

“The very first duty that an Entered Apprentice acknowledges is to improve himself in Masonry. How many truly and sincerely attempt to discharge that duty? What would be the success of a lawyer who never again looked into a law book after his admission to the bar; a minister of the gospel who never read the Bible after his ordination; a doctor who never took up a medical work after securing his sheepskin, or that of any other profession who does not take up postgraduate studies?

And yet you find Freemasons all about you pretending to be Masonic lights who never read. Some of them, perhaps, can glibly repeat certain portions of the ritual, but could not give an intelligent interpretation of the same to save their life. Masonic reading is an essential part of the education of a Freemason and it is never too late to begin, but always better to begin early. It is the duty of the Master to impress this fact upon newly-made Masons, but if they themselves are in the class of nonreading Masons, how can we expect from them wholesome advice?”

But are the duties put forth in the first three degrees the only ones that a Mason takes upon himself? I think clearly the answer to that is no. Once a candidate becomes a Master Mason he also has duties and responsibilities to God, his country and his neighbor, as well as to himself, which he must also discharge. The following quote is taken from an article about the duties of a Mason by Ed Halpaus, Grand Lodge Education Officer, which I think says it best

“The most valuable contribution of Freemasonry to the world is to be found in the lives of its individual members. If Masonic ideals are eventually to reach the legislative halls of our country, the houses of commerce and trade, and the shops of industry, they must be carried there by individual Masons; and whatever good Masonry may accomplish in the world will be the sum of the worth of its individual members. Look not at a brother’s failure to live up to our high ideals – look well to thyself! “