2011 #1 - Missouri Lodge of Research Newsletter

MISSOURI

Lodge of research OFFICERS

A Reminder Back in the days of World War II, M.W. Brother and President Harry S Truman made a national appeal to get 10 cents per Mason per year to help support this charitable work, that goal was never accomplished. If the MSA were fortunate enough to receive 10 cents per member today they would be able to expand their program to include all V.A. Medical Centers and all State Veterans Homes.

In 1919 the Grand Lodges of the United States formed the Masonic Service Association to be their contact point with our troops serving in the Armed Forces. This was done in World War II through the use of Masonic Service Centers - similar to USO’s - where a little bit of home away from home was available, primarily through Masonic locations, in various cities around the country.

After World War II, because there was such a huge number of wounded Veterans in that conflict, MSA concentrated on visiting our Veterans in VA Hospitals, State Veterans Homes, and Military Hospitals across the United States. It has continued so to this day.

We are seeing Veterans in VA locations from all of the wars since World War II. We are also seeing young veterans who have been wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan, many of whom are suffering loss of limbs because this war, unlike previous wars, has roadside bombs as a major point of attack. These kinds of deadly explosives cause devastating wounds requiring long periods of recovery.

The Veterans from previous service deserve our support because when our nation called they were there. Now it is our turn to say thanks for the service all have rendered. Thanks for your consideration in supporting our Hospital Visitation Program.

It is not possible for every Mason to be a visitor in a VA Hospital but it is possible for every Mason to support those who are!

If ever a news story carried importance, this one does. It's an appeal to your generosity and patriotism. The Green Envelope Appeal is essential to the support of Masons volunteering their time and effort.

Our brotherhood has been at the forefront of support for our wounded veterans since the formation of the MSA in 1919.

Masons have been volunteering to visit America's wounded troops during the intervening wars and we continue our presence in numerous VA and military hospitals. It's our way of letting these young men and women know how much we care for them and their sacrifices. We work to build their morale and sustain their resolve to mend and return to the society they had chosen to defend. The “GREEN ENVELOPE APPEAL” is run by the MSA. At this time, your positive response is appreciated.

Please send our donations to:

Masonic Service Assn “Green Envelope Appeal” 8120 Fenton Street Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 Your contributions are greatly appreciated and are tax deductible.

Worshipful Master – Senior Warden – Junior Warden Secy-Treas -

Stanley M. Thompson Larry R. Houge James Snaveley Ronald D. Miller 6033 Masonic Dr Suite B COLUMBIA MO 65202-6535

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MLR RP

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$15.00 for meal & Lecture

Christopher Hodapp is the author of the bestselling book, Freemasons For Dummies. He is a Past Master of Broad Ripple Lodge #643 and of Lodge Vitruvian #767, Free & Accepted Masons of the State of Indiana, and African Lodge #459, Prince Hall Affiliation, in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a member of the Scottish Rite, the York Rite and the Shrine, and he is a founding member of Levant Preceptory, Indiana's medieval period-recreation Masonic Knight Templar group. He is currently serving as Sovereign Master of Imhotep Council No. 434, Allied Masonic Degrees. Chris is a Founding Fellow of The Masonic Society, and the editor of the Society's quarterly Journal.

He is the editor and a co-author of the paper "Laudable Pursuit”: A 21st Century Response to Dwight Smith", and is one of the Knights of the North, a think-tank for developing Masonic leadership and education programs.

His second book, Solomon's Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington D.C. was published in December 2006 by Ulysses Press, and was featured on the History Channel program, Secrets of the Founding Fathers in July. He has also co-written The Templar Code For Dummies and Conspiracy Theories And Secret Societies For Dummies with Alice Von Kannon. He has written numerous articles about Freemasonry for both the Masonic and mainstream press, and he writes a monthly humor column for the Texas-based magazine, Living Naturally First.

The True Meaning of Freemasonry By Gerald W. Brooks, PM Gregory Lodge No. 998, Taft, and Ingleside Lodge No. 1361, Ingleside TX, A.F. & A.M. The origins of our Fraternity are shrouded in myth, mystery and veiled in legend that goes far back in time. Some of the myths are true and some fantasy but what we do know is when the first Grand Lodge was formed in 1717. The ritual grew, the degrees expanded and the many other Masonic bodies came into being.

Our Masonic teachings have been explained over and over as we have progressed through the various degrees of our fraternity. Our fraternity had its origins back in that far mist of time of our past and it has evolved to become what it is today. We attend our lodges and other Masonic bodies learning the ritual work and hopefully the real meaning of what it all means. So what is Freemasonry really supposed to really do for us? Below is a short story that may help explain just what it is all about, taking a good man and making him better.

A salesman breaks down in a remote country lane, a farmer in the adjacent field comes over and they discover that they are “Brothers”. The salesman is concerned as he has an important appointment in the local town: “Don't worry says the farmer you can use my car, I will call a friend and get the car repaired while you go to the appointment”.

Off goes the salesman and a couple of hours later he returns but unfortunately the car is awaiting a part which won't arrive until the next morning. “It’s not a problem,” says the Farmer, “use my telephone and re-schedule your first appointment tomorrow, stay with us tonight, and I'll see that the car is done first thing!” The farmers’ wife prepares a wonderful meal and they share a glass of fine single malt during an excellent evening, the salesman sleeps soundly and when he awakes there is his car, repaired and ready to go. After a full English breakfast the salesman thanks them both for the hospitality. As he and the farmer walk to his car he turns and asks “my Brother, thank you so much but I have to ask, did you help me because I am a Mason?” “No” was the reply, “I helped you because I am a Mason” (author unknown) From this story it seems that it is not what any Brother can do for you but it is how much you have been changed by Freemasonry that you do for others. We become that working tool of our Creator to care as we travel this vale of our lives. Somewhere I seem to recall that we should constantly remind ourselves that it is the internal and not the external qualifications that make a man a Mason. If we pay attention during the degrees, the lectures and learn our philosophy we become true Freemasons at heart. We do things because we are what we are, Freemasons.

Consider the various and many charities supported by the various bodies of the Fraternity. Though many remain obscure they are there being used by us to help and aid human kind. All this we do without the "hope of fee or reward".

Sometimes we tend to forget what the fraternity is all about. The stated goal has always been to make each one of us a better person with the ability to do for human kind. We are to improve ourselves internally that it will reflect externally to the outer world. We praise George Washington and our other founding fathers for what they brought about in our country. The question arises, why did they do it? Why did these men and others of like mind pledge all they had for the freedoms we received through their efforts? The internal and not the external lead us and when we are prompted by the truths found within our fraternity mankind is benefited. We are inheritors of those efforts, as it has been down though the ages.

So what does all of this mean? Though we conduct meetings, do degrees and generally go about the business of our operations we have lying in the background that philosophy upon which our fraternity rest, no matter what lies in our veiled mysterious past. If we take the tools of the craft we can make ourselves better men, better to do those things to help, aid and assist our fellow man. It is what lies within us that requires our change.

If we, as human beings, become centered upon those truths found within our Masonic teachings we can change those around us and make our world a better place to live. We must first change ourselves from within. In the first degree, or Entered Apprentice Degree, we begin to learn the road or pathway by which we can achieve that level of understanding necessary to achieve the change we seek.

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments; "As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the rd blessing, even life for ever more. - 123 Psalm This is the beginning of the road that leads us into the maze of the fraternity of Freemasonry. Somewhere along that line we begin to change, change within ourselves to become better men.

How long does it take to achieve that level of understanding where he becomes that "new man"? Once started it becomes a way of life, if taken to heart. We become changed within and in doing so walk a different pathway than we might not have before we became Freemasons.

Through each degree of every Masonic body we learn lessons of service, service to our family and our community at large. When we change we begin to change the world around us. We may not realize it as did Washington and the many others along the pathway of history, but change was made and the lessons learned within our fraternity may have made a difference.

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Thought for the Day Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak.

Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

Brother Winston Churchill

WORDS USED IN LODGE RITUAL A B M C I R C U M S C R I B E S I

L A E O I P E X A L T E D A C N N

ADMONISH ALLEGORY ALLUDE BADGE BARBAROUS BENEDICTION BESEECH CAPITULATE CIRCUMSCRIBE CONSECRATED CONVEX COWANS RULES FOR

L D E N N N D E L U G E V D N A C

E M E L E I U V T Y R E B G E W U

G O T T B D T N T A S N A E D O L

O N A E A U I O D D G O R S N C C

R I L M L L L C R A E R B U E O A

Y S U P L I E O T I T P A O T N T

C H T E U L P S S I A I R I N S E

DELUGE DEMEAN DISCORDANT EAVESDROPPER EMBLEMATIC EXALTED FERVENCY GATE INCULCATED INCUMBENT INDISSOLUBLE INUNDATION LICENTIOUS

N C I S D P A S S S O L O T I E D

E E P T E N E T S E I N U N R C U

V E A R N A E M E D T D S E E R T

R S C T N E B M U C N I N C P A I

E E E M B L E M A T I C R I U T T

F B R E V E R E N T I A L L S E C

W R O U G H T N A D R O C S I D E

S U P E R F I C I E S U O I P S R

MONITORIAL PIOUS PRONE RECTITUDE REVERENTIAL SUPERFICIES SUPERFLUITIES TEMPEST TENETS TESSELATED TYRE WROUGHT

P L A Y:

You must circle each of the letters individually in each of the Masonic words listed above. Then check off or line through the word found in the list. Do NOT BLACK or BLOT out the letters in the puzzle as each letter may be used in a different word also.

When all the words have been lined through, you should then have those 9 letters left which have not been circled. Write down these letters only, from upper left to lower right and this will spell out the Masonic word answer. Do you know which word it is? Do you know the meaning of that ------ and ALL the other words used in the puzzle? What does “monitorial” really mean??

By the way. The answer to our last puzzle was: The Grand Treasurer, RWB NICHOLAS (R.) CICHIELO.

"Life is not about how many breaths we take in a lifetime, but about the moments in life that take your breath away."

"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm" George Orwell Quotes Submitted Mark T. Schmidt, U.S.Army Guard (Ret)

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MISSOURI LODGE OF RESEARCH RONALD D. MILLER, Secy

NON PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID

6033 MASONIC DRIVE SUITE B COLUMBIA, MISSOURI 65202 ――――――――――――――――――

COLUMBIA, MO

PERMIT #286

ADDRESS SERVICES REQUESTED

RP 11-01

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My Ballot

by Thomas Q Ellis (1890 - 1971) Grand Master (1925) Grand Lodge F. & A. M. of Mississippi

At the same sacred altar I'm standing; It glows with the same sacred light, .

With the same sense of honor- demanding As when kneeling, my vows there to plight And as rev'rently then I was kneeling I now stand rev'rently there, And all I hold dear is appealing, That my vote stand the test of the Square.

Time flies and ere long my petition Will be filed in the Grand Lodge above; I’ll be glad then I tempered such mission With justice and brotherly love.

“With the measure ye mete” has been spoken By the Worshipful Master up there; No promise e’er made has been broken, He’ll handle my case on the Square.

The poem, printed above, describing the sanctity of the Masonic Ballot, was published in the November 2010 edition of Emessay Notes. (A monthly paper from Masonic Service Association of North America. Good food for thought!

If through friendship I favor the seeker But know him unworthy at heart, Lest my Lodge by my ballot grow weaker, Such favor from justice must part.

At the altar where light flooded o'er me, I'll betray not the trust that I bear, I'll shame not the emblems before me, But I'll measure my vote by the Square.

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I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger And then it hit me!

Or should he not be to my liking But merit by actions the trust, My soul I’ll not perjure by striking A blow if a blow be unjust.

But I’ll welcome his step 'cross the border, I'll honor the trust that I bear, I'll vote for the good of the Order

Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He’s all right now!!!

11. Why isn’t the number 11 pronounced “onety one”?

When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate.

'And I’ll cast every vote on the Square.

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