“Freemasonry, a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols…” is one of the most well-known and used quotes of our Fraternity. It is through our ritual that this beautiful system of morality is imparted to our candidates and allegories and symbols play an important role in how these moral lessons are conveyed. Ensuring that these fundamental moral lessons are conveyed consistently and that each candidate has the opportunity to learn these moral lessons is the goal of our ritual. It should also be the lofty goal of every brother to ensure that we only practice good Masonic ritual.
There has been a lot written about Masonic ritual during the history of our Fraternity and yet it is still one of most intriguing subjects to the uninitiated. Our ritual is meant to be symbolic in every aspect with the overall goal “to imprint upon the mind wise and serious truths”. It is during the conferring of the three symbolic degrees that we learn moral lessons about how we should endeavor to live our lives. In many cases these lessons are nothing new, as an immoral man would find it difficult, if not impossible, to make it into our Fraternity. In my humble opinion, it is not the content of these lessons, but rather the manner that they are conveyed to the candidate in such a short period of time, that makes them so powerful and potentially life changing to all who enter our Fraternity. This is one of the reasons why it is so imperative that our rituals be carried out with dignity and respect and performed as correctly as humanly possible.
We have all seen good degree work, and unfortunately, in many cases, we have also seen degree work which is not so good. There is no such thing as a perfect degree. With that said, I feel that every lodge and brother of our Fraternity has a personal responsibility to ensure that every degree that they participate in is the best that it can be. When observing a degree you can always tell those lodges and brethren who have studied and rehearsed their part(s) as opposed to those who go through the motions and put on, at best, a mediocre degree. We should all do our diligence to ensure that we are never part of a degree that is not the best that we are capable of putting on.
In addition to the actual degree, there is a lecture which accompanies each degree. This lecture, when given as it has been passed down through the ages, serves to reinforce and teach new lessons that are essential for the candidate to learn as he advances his knowledge in Masonry. The catechism is also a reinforcement of the candidates understanding of what he has been through and his opportunity to show that he is willing to labor in quarry to advance in his Masonic career. The coach and the brother being coached each have a responsibility to ensure that this is learned as correctly as possible before returning it in open lodge.
The Entered Apprentice degree is a candidate’s first impression of our Fraternity and we should strive to make that impression the best that it can be. We only get one chance to make a good first impression. That impression, if positive, should serve to encourage the new brother to learn his catechism and seek more light in Masonry. That impression, if negative, may cost us a candidate who otherwise may have made us a good Mason. With the ever increasing challenges that we face in attracting new members and maintaining our membership levels we cannot afford is for a new candidate to be so unimpressed with the experience of being initiated that he goes home after Initiation and never darkens the door of the lodge again. I know that this is the worst case scenario; however, it is something that we can all play a part in preventing by ensuring that the degree work that we put on is done to the best of our ability.
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.
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 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.
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