The Daylight Deacon

Doña Ana Daylight Lodge #78 AF&AM

1200 West University Ave. Mesilla, NM

P. O. Box 7732, Las Cruces NM 88006-7732

WM Keith Luck 575.405.0210 Sec. John W. Taylor, 575.524.0349

or or

Volume 5 Number 3 March 2010 Stated Meeting 2nd and 4th Saturday 9:00 A. M.

John W. Taylor PM, Editor Breakfast at 8:00 A. M.

The Master’s Mission Statement

The Master will set the standard and provide proper instruction to enable the Brethren to apply the Square and Compasses of the duly recognized but often forgotten Principles to the incidents of their own everyday Masonic lives, and with their aid to produce a Perfect Ashlar which may in turn be of service to the less experienced Craftsmen as a faithful and reliable guide and model. Keith Luck, Master

One Version of Freemasonry

After the Norman conquest, England was invaded by a perfect army of ecclesiastics; and churches, monasteries, cathedrals and abbeys were commenced in every part of the country. Where these buildings were being erected in towns the work could be undertaken by the local guild, but when they were far from the populous places a difficulty was experienced in procuring sufficient skilled labor. To meet this demand, it is supposed that many experienced members of the guilds were induced to sever their connection with the local body and accept service under the new ecclesiastical authority, thus becoming free from the restrictions and limitations to which they had previously been subject, and henceforth being designated Freemasons.

The church building Freemasons, being a national organization whose members travelled throughout the length and breadth of the land, wherever employment was obtainable, oft-times found it impracticable to refer to their late employers for their character and qualifica-tions. Hence arose the necessity for sign, token and word, with which our ancient brethren went to and fro. Whence came this sign, token and word? We do not know. We read of an assembly at York, 926 A.D., of which, however, no record remains. But there must have been a meeting held somewhere, at which regulations were adopted, which served to bind the brotherhood together for many generations (John A. Thorp, P.A. Gr. D.E., England).

From the East:

As Masons we are very proud of our ritual and our ability to perform the necessary work with excellence. But some of us forget that our ritual is a labor of love and requires constant attention. We arrive at our lodge meetings and realize we have not practiced or even looked at the ritual since the last meeting. Even worse is when the Master asks us to fill an office and we don't know the ritual required. We let him, our brethren and ourselves down. We know we will never achieve perfection but, we are all capable of competency as we demonstrated when we performed our degree proficiency exams. So, why do we ignore our responsibilities?

Many of us get involved with the business of the lodge and even though we hear the ritual being performed by others we don't listen. The “attentive ear” is absolutely essential for every Mason to realize the true meaning of the “faithful breast”. Disregard for the ritual is not an option among true Masons. Some think of a Masonic lodge as an equivalent to a service organization or a social club. They see Masonry itself as nothing more than an avenue to gain friends and contacts or a feeling of being special by belonging to our Ancient Order. Some have said that there is a place in Masonic lodges for those who won't do the ritual because of the need for people to work community or lodge projects: Nothing could be further from the truth.

When we accept a man into Masonry we are taking on a responsibility to that man. It is a responsibility to lead him to more light, not by recruiting him into Scottish or York Rite, but by teaching, coaching, supporting and inspiring him to excel in his Masonic work and ritual. In a degree in which everyone has performed their roles well, every participant feels a sense of pride and accomplishment. But, often we push aside those who aren't proficient so that it becomes the same men doing the same roles every time. We have failed our brethren and the Fraternity when we do this. Failure is not what Masonry aspires to!

So what we all need to do is get into a Masonic mindset: Teaching, coaching, supporting and leading ALL the members of our lodges to more light. Practice with them. Make certain they are included in ritual practice and then challenge them to become part of a degree team. Encourage them to work on those areas they are less confident in and help them turn in ritual sections. And most importantly, be there for them. Never let them lose sight of what Freemasonry is truly about.

From the Secretary’s desk:

“Don’t try to be better than your contemporaries or your predecessors, just try to be better than yourself.” Falkner

It is said that Freemasonry takes a good man and makes him a better man. First of all it is clear to me that Freemasonry doesn’t make a good man better – if we take in a good man, he must make himself better; but that begs the question “how is the individual, with the best of intentions, to do that?” It is one thing to want to be charitable, for example, and another to have a charitable nature. Virtue comes from within as a natural impulse. It is not something a man can put on and off at will like a coat or a jacket. To be naturally virtuous he needs to work very hard at changing the nature of his character, for his actions are governed by it.

Though all of us are generally virtuous when we enter the Craft, the intent of Freemasonry is that we should use that character set we already have as a starting point for self improvement. At our entry we are each symbolically the rough Ashlar, and, to make progress we need to move towards the symbolically perfect Ashlar by discarding the vices we possess and adopting the virtues we lack. Before we can start to improve, however, we must know ourselves, and we must be conscious of our failings as well as our strengths since to improve we need to get rid of the one and reinforce the other.

That is why we have the lessons, principals and tenets of Freemasonry taught by degrees, rituals and proficiencies. That is why Freemasonry is presented to each and every man as his own experience; that he might have the tools to make himself a better man.

John W. Taylor, PM 5X; DDGM 2X.

Coming events:

April 3 9:00 AM ritual practice*

April 10 9:00 AM Stated meeting**

April 17 9:00 AM ritual practice*

April 24 9:00 AM Stated meeting**

* Kauphy and donuts at 8:00 AM

** Breakfast at 8:15 AM

June 12th beginning at noon; Back a Century celebration of Kingston Lodge #16 in Hillsboro.

Addresses:

If you have changed your residence address, please let us know. We need to keep current.

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and I will send the newsletter to that address so we can save the Lodge the cost of paper and postage.