What are the Duties of a Mason to his Lodge?


Well, his first duty is to pay his Dues, every year, and on time: because the lodge needs them to pay for the financial obligation a lodge incurs in order to be a lodge: rent, Grand Lodge fees, district fees, regalia, printing, postage, etc., etc.

The second duty is attendance to meetings.   This obligation is clearly spelled out in the promise the member makes at the altar when he is initiated, passed, and raised.   No one, as far as I know, was ever forced to join a lodge at the point of a gun, but did so of his own free will and accord, begging on his knees to be granted the privilege to become a member and a Mason.   Every privilege is accompanied by certain duties, which, as a good and upright man, the member cannot disregard or chose to neglect.   Of course, there are exceptions and circumstances, by which the member is justly relieved from these duties — exceptional family and work demands, sickness, distance, and financial distress — but nothing more.   In the case of financial distress, the lodge and the members will support the distressed Brother, gladly.

The third duty is participation in the works of the lodge: serving as an officer, as the chair or member of a committee, or participating in the rituals, when skills and time allow him to do so.   There is nothing wrong for a member to justifiably recuse himself from this participation, and sit in lodge as an attentive spectator, for such attentiveness will lead to learning, and perhaps one day to participation.

The fourth duty is to improve the quality of the lodge and its activities.   This requires of the member to pay attention to what is done by the lodge, in any of its endeavors; to assess its efficacy, and to come forward with any suggestion he believes will improve this efficacy, so the other members may consider it and, if found useful, adopt it.

The fifth duty is responsibility as a frame of mind in the discharge of all the duties described above, a mental attitude guiding all our thoughts and actions, better and thoroughly defined in another work by the Italian Brother Francesco Angioni, in his paper: MASONIC RESPONSIBILITY

A member's participation in the works of his lodge is not to be equated to an optional occasional visit to a social club or a coffee shop: the monthly summons is not just and information flyer sent by the lodge to its members — it is a Summons, a command, an order to attend.

If all the above does not fit your lifestyle, your ambitions, your desire to learn, to improve yourself spiritually — Why bother?   Don't ask to become a member, a Freemason; and if you are already one: ask for your Demit, and save yourself the money!

Imparted by Bro. Vincent Lombardo

June 18, 2016



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