That Lodge made not of stone...
Brother Paul, your labor has touched us all at ATS, and you have managed to reach beyond the grave and remind us once again what is important in this
journey we call life. Your last steps on your journey found you reaching out to all... Not to make amends (none were needed to be made), but to inform
us of your intention to Deny Ignorance one more time and provide us with some Earthly communication. By doing so, he has brought to mind the lesson of
the Sprig of Acacia... Everlasting life.
The following is an excerpt from the Apron Lecture that I have delivered countless times to newly Obligated Entered Apprentices. The lecture is
Monitorial in nature, and is readily available to the public (though I have never seen this one online). The receipt of your Apron is the first great
moment in a Freemason's journey towards Light.
…It is yours to wear with courage, with patience and with dignity through all the turmoil, the heat and dust of the day; and when at last the
evening shadows fall and wearied hands lay down the working tools of life, may you so have lived and labored that you may pass with serene, unwavering
confidence through the sunset gates.
And, my Brother, if you have worn this emblem worthily through the stress of the years, when the hour shall come wherein that part of you which is of
the earth is given back to the kindly bosom of the mother who nourished it, to be resolved once more to the earth whence it came-even then, in that
hour, in the silence and mystery of the grave, this unstained emblem will be laid by loving hands upon your cold and pulseless breast, as a symbol and
a sign for all to see, that here lies the earthly habitation of one who has kept the faith, who has fought the good fight and had no fear to die.
And after you have passed through the little change that men call death, and the Kindly Master of all good workmen shall call you from labor to
refreshment and rest for a little while before setting you to labor anew in some happier world and wider field of endeavor, you will enter upon the
great adventure with light and joyous spirit and meet the Master face to face-a workman who need not be ashamed-a laborer worthy of his hire-a
gentleman, unafraid.
The above is the last third of the lecture, and as is plainly obvious, meant to inculcate the depth and breadth of a Freemason's Obligation... That
from that moment that you first enter through the Door adjacent to a Lodge until your Apron is placed upon you by loving hands one last time... That
you will live your life in an upright manner... Paul did... And he now resides in the Celestial Lodge ready to be set to labor anew...
Echoes
Fine men have walked this way before,
Whatever Lodge your Lodge may be;
Whoever stands before the door,
The sacred arch of Masonry,
Stands where the wise, the great, the good,
In their own time and place have stood.
You are not Brother just with these,
Your friends and neighbors; you are kin
With Masons down the centuries;
This room that now you enter in
Has felt the tread of many feet,
For here all Masonry you meet.
You walk the path the great have trod,
The great in heart, the great in mind,
Who looked through Masonry to God,
And looked through God to all mankind
Learned more than word or sign or grip,
Learned Man's and God's relationship.
To him who sees, who understands,
How mighty Masonry appears!
A Brotherhood of many lands,
A fellowship of many years,
A Brotherhood so great, so vast,
Of all the Craft of all the past.
And so I say a sacred trust
Is yours to share, is yours to keep;
I hear the voice of men of dust,
I hear the step of men asleep;
And down the endless future, too,
Your own shall echo after you.
-Douglas Malloch
Farewell my Brother, until we meet again.
