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Toast to the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario
Worshipful Brother Chairman, Rt. Worshipful Brothers Grand Senior And Grand Junior Warden, Distinguished Head Table guests My Brethren & our lovely Ladies.
It is indeed a pleasure to be asked to give a toast to our Grand Lodge this evening and a double pleasure for me personally. It was only two months ago that I had occasion to propose the Toast to our Grand Master, Most Worshipful Brother Robert J. McKibbon, at Moira Lodge's 200th anniversary celebration.
About a month ago a dear friend and Brother Mason returned from his winter in Florida and asked how the event went. I told Brother Gibbs that the day was wonderful, as those of you who attended would no doubt agree. He shared with me a story that was told at Moira Lodge's 175th anniversary in 1976 by the Grand Master. I'd like to share it with you.
A new Master Mason was given a sterling silver belt buckle by his sponsor soon after his third degree. The young man was thrilled to receive such a gift from a man he so respected. For on this shiny new belt buckle were depicted in glittering brass, many of the emblems and symbols he had come to know from the three degrees he had so recently taken.
There was the square and the level, the plumb rule and both ashlers all beautifully cast. As the young mason looked at them, it recalled to his mind all the wonderful lessons of philosophy and morality he had learned as he traveled the Masonic path from entered apprentice to Master Mason.
These symbols were so important to him and the gift of his mentor and friend was so cherished that he was afraid to let anything tarnish the belt buckle.
So he placed it in a glass case on a shelf and once a month he would take it out of the case, gaze upon it, moralize upon it and carefully polish it to remove any trace of tarnish.
Several years went by and the new Mason wasn't so new anymore. He, like many Masons got caught up in the politics of the lodge. In fact he had already progressed through the chairs to the office of Senior Warden; next year he would be the Master.
It was around this time that his old friend and mentor happened to be in his home and he saw the gift he had given several years earlier and asked why the man kept it in a glass case.
His answer was, I don't want it to ever become tarnished.
The mentor smiled, in the way that only an older man can smile at one his junior, and said My Brother if you would only wear that belt buckle Every Day, you would never need to polish it and I assure you it will never tarnish.
My Brethren, isn't that just like Freemasonry. For once a month many Masons will take out that belt buckle, give it a quick polish and wear it to lodge. But if we only lived every day by the principles taught to us so many years ago when we were Entered Apprentices, our Masonry, our craft and indeed our Fraternity would never tarnish.
For we all possess such a gift, in a figurative sense. A shining belt buckle of sterling silver and brass, given to us by those who have gone on before us. Shouldn't we all wear it Every Day?
But what of our Grand Lodge? As everyone knows a belt buckle is of no use without a belt to attach it to. Like the belt which wraps around our waste, our Grand Lodge is there to wrap its wisdom, knowledge and guidance around the whole of the craft and allows each of us to fasten it all together with the beautiful gift Freemasonry presents, if only we would choose to wear it, Every Day.
Brethren to the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario. |
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