A Masonic Address
in Response to the Toast to Grand Lodge

(by R. W. Bro. Michael A. Litvak, D.D.G.M., Toronto Don Valley District)

Delivered on March 28, 2011

On the Occasion of his Official Visit to our Lodge

W. Master, Distinguished Guests Seated at the Head Table, Brethren:

On behalf of M.W. Bro. Raymond S.J. Daniels, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario; V.W. Bro. Ted Wright, Grand Steward; V.W. Bro. David Fernandes, Grand Steward; I thank you for your kind and heartfelt toast to Grand Lodge.

First, my brethren, as this is my first meeting back after the loss of my beloved mother-in-law, let me say how good it is to be back and how much Judy and I appreciate your many kind words of condolence.

Brethren, I have made the effort throughout my visits within our District to convey a positive image for Freemasonry and to induce our fellow Masons to take a hard and close look at their own Masonry to try to determine not only how we can become better Masons but how we can ensure that those who choose to join our fraternity will gain the same or similar insight as we and remain faithful members of the Craft.

That is the longest sentence I ever have written and I determined to leave it as such, even though my Grade 13 English teacher would surely have chastised me, in order for me to repeat it and let the message begin to penetrate.

Repeat ···

Please take note that I have asked you to review your own Masonry and adjured you to assist our newer brethren to gain similar insight into the Craft. We, my brethren, are NOT round pegs intended to fit into the round hole of Masonry. Each of us gains something different from our association with the organization. Ultimately, though, we must accept the yoke of responsibility to become active participants in whatever kind of Masonry we find fits our lives. No matter how the words are adjusted, it comes down to this ··· you can only take away from the Craft that which you are prepared to put into it. If you want Football, then stay at home and watch TV. We have no room for armchair quarterbacks; we need men who are willing to invest in themselves. Remember, we instruct each newly initiated candidate to make a daily lesson in Masonic knowledge.

It is thus that I have gained inspiration for tonight's talk directly from your own WM, W. Bro. Vincent Lombardo, in his words from the summons for this month.

In it, he suggests that when visiting a Lodge, or for that matter, when you are within your own Lodge (and perhaps doing no work that night), you not become like the wallpaper or a flower arrangement. I was so pleased to see these words because for years I have admonished the brethren of my Lodge to be active participants even when they have no visible role in a Degree. If you come to Lodge and simply fill a chair, then you are doing yourself a real disservice and, in my humble opinion, wasting your membership dollars. I still find meaning and inspiration in the words; there are still words that give me pause. I have said this before and I still am passionate about this. Daily learning does not have to entail your studying an intense treatise by Pike or something of this nature. It can be a simple "Ah Ha" moment when you gain understanding. Then, you will have begun to fulfil our Grand Master's creed "Get Knowledge, Get Wisdom but with all thy getting, get Understanding".

W. Bro. Lombardo continues that you not simply visit a Lodge to the glory of an officiating Grand Lodge Officer. Brethren, while I most certainly appreciate your support in bolstering the numbers at my Official Visits and attending Installations, again, if you are not gaining something from that visit other than to be a body in a chair, you do yourself no good. However, let us not discount that true brotherhood that many of us gain from such visits. Otherwise, as was noted in this summons, we simply become deprived of sleep and fall deeper into the debt of our family's patience.

Brethren, at the beginning of this Masonic year, when meeting with the Worshipful Masters of the Lodges, I requested, among other things, that messages in the summons be meaningful. I do not specifically mean to single out Quinte St. Alban's Lodge or its WM. As I said, this particular message caught my attention as I do read each summons when they arrive.

It talks about charity through the visitations that the brethren of this Lodge have been making to Cuba. I am so pleased to see that your website has a photo of the Cuban brethren wearing the Officers' collars that Mount Sinai-Pillars Lodge was able to donate through the excess created by the amalgamation of the two Lodges this past fall. Brethren, these are the components of Masonry that make us who we should be.

W. Bro. Lombardo simply had the gumption to put these thoughts to paper. In short and, perhaps in more crass terms, he has asked us to put our money where our mouths are. There has been much talk this year about the value of membership. We have been privileged to have a most successful Lodge of Instruction in this building in October. More recently, and in quick succession, we have enjoyed two very informative evenings created by our Education and Lodge Resources Committees under the leadership and guidance of W. Bros. Zovighian and Di Cecco.

Brethren, we are in phase of Renaissance in Masonry. Just because men are once again expressing an interest in the Craft, does not mean that we simply sit back and enjoy the glow of their membership. It is a two way street; we, as senior brethren owe them the courtesy of teaching and helping them to learn and, our newer brethren owe themselves and the Craft the duty to become good Masons.

So mote it be!

Closing Quote in Lodge:

"If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters."

Alan Simpson US Senator


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