DDGM Messages for 2005-2006

When you are young you get paid for what you do. As you get older you get paid for what you know. Masonry is much the same as you progress through your Masonic life.

As an entered apprentice you were placed at the North East angle of the lodge to start building your Masonic life by the proper moral standards paying particular attention to that truly Masonic attribute Charity. While you are in the North East angle of the lodge you are also close to the rough ashlar. This might indicate to all that there are many rough edges to your personality as it relates to Masonry. This is the beginning of the smoothing process of your personality to the betterment of yourself and to society in general.

As in the progression of life, so it is in Masonry. As a fellow craft you are placed at the South East angle of the lodge to mark the further progress you have made in the science. You are now near the perfect ashlar. This might indicate that some of the rough edges have now been removed and your formation is now underway as a continuance of your Masonic journey.

Then as a Master Mason you were placed in the East in front of the Master of the lodge. You are now close to or near the tracing board, the instrument the Master uses to dispense the lessons of virtue from the East to the alter and to all the Brethren in the lodge. You are placed here to have full access to the lessons of virtue to make one more step in your Masonic journey.

You are still very young in your Masonic life and must still be paid for what you do. Consider now your journey through the offices of the lodge. As Junior or Senior steward you are still very much at work in the lodge as in preparing the candidate or the lodge. Your pay for this task is to understand more thoroughly your admission to Masonry. It allows you to revisit the whole process you came through in joining Masonry. You offer some assistance to the new candidate and the lodge and impart some of the limited knowledge to the new candidate that you may have attained during your Masonic career thus far.

In your next step as the Inner Guard, you have been given more responsibility, allowing you the power to admit masons on proof, receive candidates in due form and obey the commands of the Junior Warden. You are now starting to get paid for what you know. You have enough knowledge to know who can and cannot be admitted to the lodge and the proper preparation of the candidates. However, you must still do what the Junior Warden instructs you to do.

Proceeding on to the next offices of the Lodge continues the transformation from a doer to a teacher. The Deacons in the Lodge are still the doers in the work of the Lodge to continue their Masonic education while imparting some of what they have already learned in their Masonic journey to the candidate as they travel around the Lodge. There is more and more responsibility placed on the Deacons to be teachers of the candidate while still doing the work around the lodge.

Making the jump to the Junior Warden of the Lodge tips the scales to become more of a resource person than a worker. He remains seated while the candidate proves his former degree work and also when he proves he is in possession of the secrets of the next degree. The Junior Wardens lecture is full of information for the new candidate about the Lodge, it's form and the amazing amount of symbolism associated with the Lodge. You have now reached a stage of maturity in your Masonic life that allows you disseminate large amounts of information and get paid for what you know.

The Senior Warden teaches the lessons of the temple and the sciences associated with it. It focuses on the numbers that are so important in Free Masonry, 3, 5, 7 or more. The three who held sway at the building of the temple. The five noble orders of architecture that were used in it's construction and the seven sciences that tend so effectually to polish and adorn the minds of the Brethren.

All of the preceding offices have prepared you to take the final step to Worshipful Master of the Lodge. Your mind has been moulded by virtue and science to enable you to rule the Lodge with confidence and humility. The lessons of virtue, which proceed from the East, like the ray of brilliant light from the rising sun, illumine the West and the South and as the work proceeds are carefully imbibed by the workmen. You have now reached the stage in your Masonic journey that allows you the privilege to teach the lessons you have learned.

The government of the Lodge is your responsibility, so if it is to be, it is up to me.