Waterloo Masons: Grand River Lodge № 151

In the Junior Warden's lecture we are told that “The immovable jewels are the tracing board, rough ashler and perfect ashler...they are called immovable jewels because they lie open in the lodge for the brethren to moralize on.”

Two questions come to mind In the first place, isn’t it nonsense to call these two huge stones “jewels”? and secondly, what moral lessons can we possibly draw from them?

Deacons - derivation Greek diakonos meaning servant, helper or messenger[^i]

Duties - we hear every opening

SD -“to carry the messages and commands of the W.M. to the S.W., and await the return of the J.D.”

JD - “to carry the messages and commands of the W.M. from the S. to the J.W., and see that the same are punctually obeyed”[^ii]

“Three Distinct Knocks”, the 1760 expose of Antients’ practice - in the calling off, the WM whispers to the SD “ ‘tis my Will and Pleasure that this lodge is called off from Work to Refreshment during Pleasure” The SD carries it to the SW. The SW whispers to the JD who goes to the JW and the JW announces it in a loud voice to the lodge.[^iii]

The preserved records of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Main Office) show the persecution of the Freemasons. While the number is not accurately known, it is estimated that between 80,000 and 200,000 Freemasons were exterminated under the Nazi regime.

In 1926, the little blue Forget Me Not was first used by the Grand Lodge Zur Sonne as a Masonic emblem at the Annual Convention in Bremen. Then in 1934, the Nazis introduced the Winterhilfswerk, a supposed charitable organization, which actually collected money used for rearmament. The contributors received a badge that changed each winter. In March 1938 the Forget Me Not badge - made by the same factory as the Masonic badge - was chosen, enabling Freemasons to wear it as a secret sign of membership.

After the Second World War, the Forget Me Not flower was used again as a Masonic emblem at the first Annual Convention in 1948 of the United Grand Lodges of Germany, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons. The badge is now worn in the coat lapel by Freemasons around the world to remember all those that have suffered in the name of Freemasonry, and specifically those during the Nazi era.

-- from Wikepedia

Know Thyself

by Bro. Alexander Pope (1688 – 1744)
member of the Lodge held at the Goat, Haymarket, London

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is Man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act or rest,
In doubt to deem himself a God or Beast,
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reasoning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such
Whether he thinks too little or too much:
Chaos of thought and passion, all confused;
Still by himself abused, or disabused;
Created half to rise and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

Centuries later, Neo is led into the kitchen of an apartment. A woman is baking cookies. He breaks a vase. Above the door is a sign that reads Temet Nosce.

“You know what that means? It’s Latin. Means, Know Thyself”

The distinguishing characteristics of every Free and Accepted Mason are Virtue, Honour and Mercy.

The writers of history identify certain events as defining points, crucial episodes upon which the future depends and from which the future evolves. One such landmark in Canadian military history and milestone in our political history is the Battle of Vimy, the heavily-fortified ridge in north-eastern France, that began at dawn on Easter Monday morning, 9 April 1917. It was the first time that all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force were brought together. 27,000 Canadian soldiers advanced through driving rain, sleet and snow. Volunteers all, they came from all nine Provinces in the Dominion and Newfoundland. Within two hours, three of the four Canadian divisions had taken their objective, but it would take three days of deadly combat by the Fourth Division to take Hill 145, the highest point of the ridge. 3,598 men were killed, and 7,104 were wounded. Four Canadian soldiers were awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military honour “For Valour.“