La Cause d'être "régulier"

In certain circles, the dimension of Masonic regularity turns to be a theme of vivid discussion. Examples exist allover the world showing that in the zones of influence of the United Grand Lodge of England or the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite there are contradictory indications about it. As it has been remarked elsewhere the dimension of regularity rises from the centrality of the Three Lights of Freemasonry in Lodge and the conducting of works to the Glory of the Grand Architect of the Universe. A basic belief in God is required to any freemason. Lodges are constituted under the umbrella of Grand Orient or Grand Lodges because Masonry is universal and hierarchical. Other dimensions of the debate are on my view spurious and dispensable. We, regular freemasons, are traditionals, the others that refuse a divine dimension in freemasonry are liberals. The perception of God whatever the name we give to Him is personal, individual, something that the collective has nothing to do with. Although we approach freemasonry in different terms, liberal freemasons are not for us profanes or enemies, they live freemasonry in different terms, period. Nothing more, nothing less. Let us bother in important things like the decreasing number of members, the divorce of new generations from our work and values, yes?   

How to go public?

One of the hardest challenges of Freemasonry is to be public, more transparent without loosing its actractiveness and the reserved dimension of its ritual secrets. There is no chance in persisting in being secretive in an era when open societies prevail as model for modern comonwealths in the West and increasingly in other parts of the world. Karl Popper has remarked in a famous work “Open Societies and its Enemies” that time has come for societies to be accountable to citizens and leaders to respond to the awareness of the people they govern. Returning to the scaffold of closed societies is to embrace again the entropy of the Dark Ages where magic was the escape for a reclusive dimension of liberty and religion was not seen as door to fulfilness but as a veil.

Freemasonry needs to learn how to live with this demand of transparency and openess, with the media always attentive of what is happening inside doors, and normally for the worst reasons.  This is a fact of life that Masonic leaderships need to accomodate. In this site we have reporting, briefly, this encounter (not always successful) of a Order with secrets with a profane world in which discretion is perceived as synonymous of desguise and conspiration. Some Obediences are more akeen in doing this job then others. The UGLE and the American North and South Jurisdictions have till now done a good job on this. The GLNF and the African Crafts were the less successful on it. Latin American and the Spanish Crafts are in the middle runway. 

21^st century Masonic leaders are for matter of education and sensitivity better positioned to interiorize this issue in a relaxed mood. They know what they should publicize and acknowledge that in an exposed society, a professional relation with the media is not only welcome but compulsory. They should meet with it in a professional way, on our regard. 

Letter of Dan Brown to the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction of the AASR of the United States

"Aos filiados da Jurisdição Sul,

É uma grande honra ser convidado a cumprimentá-los através desta carta.

Eu esperava que eu fosse capaz de acompanhá-los pessoalmente nesta noite, mas o lançamento do meu romance "O Símbolo Perdido" tem me enviado para longe de Washington.

Nas últimas semanas, como vocês podem imaginar, eu tenho sido repetidamente perguntado porque a Maçonaria me atraiu tão fortemente a ponto de torná-la um ponto central de meu novo livro. Minha resposta é sempre a mesma: "Em um mundo onde os homens fazem batalha sobre qual definição de Deus é mais precisa, eu não posso expressar adequadamente o respeito profundo e admiração que sinto por uma organização em que homens de crenças diferentes são capazes de "partir o pão juntos" em um vínculo de fraternidade, amizade e camaradagem."

Queiram aceitar meus humildes agradecimentos pelo nobre exemplo que vocês demostram para a humanidade. É minha sincera esperança de que a comunidade maçônica reconheça “O Símbolo Perdido” como ele realmente é... uma tentativa de explorar reverencialmente a história e a beleza da filosofia maçônica.

Atenciosamente,

Dan Brown"

Via No Esquadro

A Brotherhood of Men.

A splendid reception by a bunch of terrific Brethren. When Freemasonry is performed like this nothing more is required. Thanks Brethren and you my dearest OV in particularly for a fine session.

A man before God

St. Francis of Assisi used to say that “What a man is before God, that he is and nothing more”. St. Francis is undoubtably correct, but to look at the other side of the coin, “What a man is before God, that he is and nothing less”. Freemasonry teaches a person to respect the inherent divine dignity of others. Distinctions of rank may be necessary in secular society, but within a Masonic Lodge, all are equal, “Meeting on the level, and departing on the square”. Freemasonry, in its initial degrees, is a moral allegory. It uses the imagery of the tools used in building and construction to teach a moral message. Thus, you hear terms like, “Square conduct, level steps, and upright intentions”. On the surface this is simplistic, until one starts to meditate upon God and one’s life. The simple moral message of Freemasonry is profound, and cuts across the teachings off all the great religions. It recognises that all men and women are created equal, and in the end death— the great leveller of human existence—will reduce us all to the same state. What will matter is not how much money and power we have accumulated through life, but the way we have lived our life.
Lionel Boxer

The modern Freemasonry (Via newspaper ABC)

Gran Logia

Un 24 de junio de 1717 se estableció en Inglaterra la Gran Logia de Londres que sentó las bases de organización de la masonería moderna.
La masonería es una institución cuyo origen se remonta a la Edad Media. Entonces, los albañiles y constructores de palacios, castillos y catedrales formaron grupos cerrados para transmitir a sus miembros los secretos de la profesión, eligiendo los maestros, a los más avezados aprendices para transmitirles sus conocimientos.
Así nacieron las logias operativas, que fueron surgiendo en diversos países europeos, cada una con sus características propias. Con el paso del tiempo y la democratización de los conocimientos, hasta entonces guardados en los claustros monacales, con la fundación de universidades y centros de enseñanzas, además de la proliferación de libros, gracias a la imprenta, fueron cesando la construcción de catedrales y, con el tiempo, las logias se fueron transformando, y en el Renacimiento, ellas fueron admitiendo a personas extrañas al mundo de la construcción, convirtiéndose en logias especulativas.
En la fecha mencionada más arriba, se realizó la reunión en la que se decidió la fusión de cuatro logias y la creación de la Gran Logia de Londres y Westminster, que dio origen a la masonería moderna.
Los masones se identificaron con la Revolución francesa —que adoptó el lema masónico de Libertad, Fraternidad, Igualdad—, apoyaron la independencia de los Estados Unidos y estuvieron presentes en los movimientos revolucionarios americanos, exceptuando el Paraguay, donde recién se tiene registro de su presencia hacia mediados del siglo XIX, y con presencia efectiva, en la posguerra del 70. 

Obispo misionero 
Un prelado cuyo nombre es muy conocido en nuestro medio, al menos entre la gente relacionada a la congregación salesiana, es monseñor Luis Lasagna.
Hasta un colegio asunceno lleva su nombre, pero ¿qué sabemos, realmente, de él? Eso. Que fue un obispo y que un colegio lleva su nombre. Monseñor Lasagna fue un obispo salesiano que nació en Montemagno, en la provincia italiana de Alessandria, el 4 de marzo de 1850. Próximamente se cumplirán 160 años de su natalicio.
Fue alumno de san Juan Bosco e ingresó a la Sociedad Salesiana en 1866 —contaba con 16 años—.Ordenado sacerdote, vino a América y en los casi veinte años de recorrido por tierras americanas, estableció la obra salesiana en el Uruguay, el Brasil y el Paraguay.
Fue consagrado obispo por el papa León XIII, el 12 de marzo de 1893. Poco después de estar en el Paraguay, en su viaje al Brasil, el ferrocarril en el que viajaba sufrió un terrible accidente, que le tuvo a Lasagna como una de sus víctimas fatales, en Juiz de Fora, estado de Minas Gerais, el 6 de noviembre de 1895. Apenas contaba 45 años de edad. 

Don Giussepe 
Un personaje célebre que vivió en Asunción entre 1882 y 1940, fue don Giussepe Fassardi, un laborioso y exitoso empresario nacido en Ottabiano, Lomellina, Italia, hacia 1860. En su país se dedicó a la ebanistería, actividad que la desarrolló en el nuestro, luego de su llegada en 1882.
Su laboriosidad le llevó a instalar una carpintería mecánica en el lugar llamado “Arsenalcué”. Para satisfacer las necesidades de producción adquirió propiedades boscosas, llegando a ser propietario de unas 450.000 hectáreas de bosques en la zona Caazapá.
Fassardi fue pionero en nuestro país en la fabricación de madera terciada. Para la extracción maderera, la empresa creó tres obrajes: Tacuaras, Ava’i y San Agustín, con una administración central en Chararâ. Estos obrajes dieron lugar a ciudades como General Morínigo y General Garay y José Fassardi, distrito originado de una gran fábrica y aserradero que funcionó desde 1925 hasta 1964, año en que se vendió la propiedad a la compañía Matiauda-Battilana Peña, que la loteó y colonizó en 1980.
Luego de una fructífera vida dedicada al engrandecimiento de la producción nacional, don José Fassardi falleció en Asunción, en 1940.

Descendiente de prócer 
Hacia 1961, vivía en Asunción una anciana que era descendiente del prócer Vicente Ignacio Iturbe.
La dama se llamaba Eloisa Ramona Racaniere Iturbe Fernández y era bisnieta del citado prócer y, entonces, la única descendiente directa de Iturbe. Su residencia quedaba a solo nueve cuadras de la Casa de la Independencia.
Había nacido en una vivienda que quedaba sobre la calle Igualdad (hoy 25 de Mayo) entre Tacuary y Estados Unidos, donde actualmente se encuentra el local del Partido Colorado. Cuando su padre murió, esa casa fue vendida a la familia Croskey Fernández.
Según contaba esta señora, para que su familia no fuera reconocida por Francia y evitar represalias, cambiaron el apellido Iturbe por el de Fernández, que era el de la esposa de Vicente Ignacio (Bernarda Fernández).
Via ABC

Gratitude...

...to all those Brethren that individually have send their Christmas best wishes to Luz do Oriente. We hope that the new Masonic year is the best in new progresses in the Royal Art for the Brethren of other constituencies. Freemason faces great challenges in the next years most of them the decrease of number of members, the routine in masonic works, the aging of officialdom, and the awakening of new forms of enjoying the Royal Art beyond the traditional forms of it. We have all been attentive to the enlarging debate that is going on about the role of women and feminine initiation. As far as I remember there are declarations of Past-Grand Masters of GLLP considering this a problem that time will decide. I don't know if this doctrine is the current one but as far as new discoveries emerge about the first days of Christianity, we become ashtonished by the role that the femeale followers of Jesus have in the spread of its message and teachings. We Scottish freemasons have a more open spirit on these things that other rites (namely the Rectified Rite or the York Rite) whose inspiration in Catholic or Protestant interpretations of the tradition make them very suspicious about it. As Dylan tune sings "the times they are a changing".

Peter Smith writes about what is Freemasonry

(...) It has been suggested that Freemasonry originated as a guild of mason builders of cathedrals, and that much of the ritual used in Freemasonry today was likely devised by Sir Francis Bacon in the 17th century. Freemasonry is a secular organization open to people of all faiths, colours and creeds. It is one of the largest charities in the world.
The rituals taught through both word and actions, and the secrets of Freemasonry, are hidden in allegory, imagery and symbolism.
People are naturally suspicious and mistrusting of a secret organization, however it is not the organization that is secret (a book containing the rituals is freely available at Grand Lodge, Queens Street, London).
The secrets are those hidden in the ritual, which gradually unfolds as the work is performed.
There are three initiatory steps in Freemasonry, namely entering, passing and raising.
The third degree, raising, provides an experience of death and re-birth in life. The simple words “know thyself” are used in the third degree, meaning “find your divinity within.” Every ceremony is meant to help both the initiate and the masons present at the ceremony to raise their consciousness, which is their understanding of their divine self. The fundamental purpose of the work is to achieve harmony on earth; between heart and mind.(...)


In the Grand Forks Gazette

Manuel Diaz Ron, freemason and catholic.

Manuel Díaz Ron, empresario y político asturiano, fallecido el pasado jueves en París, ciudad de la que fue vicealcalde y donde vivía, era masón y también católico, según declaró ayer a La Nueva Espana José Manuel Otero Novas, abogado y ex ministro. Otro de sus amigos, el abogado y eurodiputado Antonio Masip, considera, a su vez, que era creyente. ¿Cabe hablar de contradicción?
La masonería regular, a la que pertenecía Díaz Ron, es teísta y para iniciarse se exige creer en Dios, al que genéricamente se denomina Gran Arquitecto. Las tenidas están presididas siempre por una Biblia abierta. De todos modos, la Iglesia católica continúa condenándola.
Otero Novas ya lo había adelantado en un escrito in memóriam publicado el día anterior en estas páginas. Ayer asintió: "cuando lo conocí hablamos de la masonería y, entre otras cosas, me dijo que era católico. Y me dijo lo mismo, que era católico, hasta tres veces". Más aún "todos los veranos Manuel organizaba en su pueblo, en Millau, una misa, y además en latín, a la que invitaba a sus amigos de París. Y como también me dijo, pagó los arreglos de la Iglesia".
Otero matiza y precisa a la hora de hablar de contradicciones entre la masonería y el catolicismo. Como afirma, las grandes logias son teístas. De todos modos considera que la masonería cae en el relativismo precisamente para evitar fuertes pugnas internas. ¿Vivía Ron una contradicción entre su condición de masón y sus creencias católicas? "No lo sé exactamente", dice Otero Novas.
In La Nueva Espana

Alain Bauer: "secularism requires that everyone make an effort"

Few institutions have generated more rumors and fantasies that Freemasonry. His opponents have taken him all the powers of patronage to a career plan or the awarding of a contract to the global conspiracy. Lovers of esotericism have assigned links with the Templars and the Illuminati of Bavaria. The legitimate public curiosity was attracted by this secret society he perceives as she only wants quiet, and his taste for the strange symbols and rituals. Far from all the myths, Alain Bauer, both historian and witness, we described the internal reality of Freemasonry. He mentions in the pages of the origins and history of the movement, its presence in France and in other countries as well as the characters who influenced, Voltaire and Mozart, George Washington, Simon Bolivar, Jules Ferry, Pierre Mendes France, Garibaldi, Victor Schoelcher. It also addresses the issues that have stirred - and sometimes broken - the Freemasons in recent years, both on social issues on the functioning of the lodges. Its book "Dictionnaire amoureux de la Franc-Maçonneri" edited by Plon. In FrancInfo.

African Freemasonry

A meeting of South African freemasons took place at Madagascar (close to Mozambique) debating a central issue in conteporary freemasonry: "Thinking on the future". Here the report of Afrique Hebdo in French:
Madagascar abrite les 33èmes Journées Maçonniques de l’Océan Indien (JMOI).
Un rendez-vous des « frères » malgaches, mauriciens, réunionnais, seychellois et comoriens, qui a démarré hier soir dans la capitale, pour se terminer dimanche et dont le principal débat se tient ce jour sous le thème « Penser à l’avenir ». Au cours duquel, cette catégorie des hommes et femmes de bonnes mœurs échangent d’idées et d’expériences pour le bien de l’humanité.
Penser à l’avenir, est d’ailleurs un sujet d’actualité pour Madagascar en pleine transition. Puisque, depuis le début de la crise, les francs maçons malgaches n’ont pas certainement cessé de réfléchir sur la situation, d’après leurs concepts maçonniques et d’esquisser, tant bien que mal, une solution. N’est-il pas donc venu le temps, à travers ce rendez-vous de la JMOI, qu’ils passent à la vitesse supérieure ?
A part la consolidation de la fraternité des francs-maçons, l’image de Madagascar est rehaussée en organisant les 33es JMOI. L’honneur revient en effet au comité d’organisateur qui a su pérenniser un tel rendez-vous, malgré la crise. La dernière session, les 32èmes JMOI, s’étant déroulée à Maurice en 2008. Que de nouvelles idées et une synergie de compétences se dégagent à l’issue de ce moment de retrouvailles, de ces gens libéraux.

Lodge awarded academic scholarship

Kennett Lodge No. 475, Free & Accepted Masons of Kennett Square, recently awarded academic scholarships to high school graduates Alexander Adams from Unionville High School, Idaigna Marie Rodriguez-Rivera and Meghan Stanley, both from Kennett Square High School.
The students each received a $600 scholarship from the Lodge. This is the 14th year the Kennett Freemasons have awarded scholarships to local students. The Freemasons raised the funds from the contributions of Lodge members and friends of the Lodge.
Freemasonry is the oldest and largest fraternal organization in the world, with nearly 200,000 members in Pennsylvania alone and 5 million worldwide. Seventeen U.S. presidents and 13 signers of the Declaration of Independence were Masons. Freemasons contribute more than one million dollars a day to charity, through research programs, drug abuse prevention, and care for disabled and burned children. All men of integrity are welcome to become Freemasons and are invited to inquire into the membership requirements of the fraternity.
Established in Kennett Square on July 7, 1870, the Kennett Lodge has met continuously for more than 140 years.

Believers, superstition and the Chilean miners.

People believe what they want to believe. Basically. It amused myself, recently, to read in the periodic search of masonic events and chats that there was something strange in the recent rescue of the 33 miners from the Chilean mine, and that some people foresee in it the work of the Freemasons. Everything move around the number 33, which is as most readers know a number akin to the Order and the rite practiced in most of the Portuguese Lodges, the Scottish Rite. 33 are the degrees of the rite, 33 was the age Jesus had when he died in the cross. Numerologist argue that the 33 is the most influential of all numbers as it represents the Master Teacher, and gives dimension to the spiritual uplifting of mankind.  The numbers 11, 22 and 33 are also represented by a triangle with each of them in the forming axes; that Triangle represents Enlightenment.
Considering all this true what the Chilean miners have to do with it? We may say little, but there is always a conspirational theory point the other way. It seems (according with it) that beyond being 33, they were forced to stay 66 days below the surface, their trip to the surface took 33 minutes average and the capsule was name Fenix, because everything was a masonic conspiration. Forget it! Some miner used a shirt that shows a pentagram with the top vertex pointed to the ground.
For God's sake!

The Scottish Key of Freemasonry: a documentary

Leave the secret handshake outside. Australia Freemasonry.

Via Brisbane Times
Brotherhood, civic duty and the chance to knock back a beer with a few good mates, Freemasonry is what it's always been, if not a little more modern.
Or so says one of Queensland's highest ranking members.
Next month, Queensland's monolithic Freemason head quarters on Ann Street will unbolt its doors and usher in the public as part of Brisbane's inaugural Open House Day.
It's a chance for the world's oldest fraternity to lift, if only partially, the veil of secrecy that has shrouded the organisation for as long as most can remember.
Graham Schulz, Deputy Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of Queensland, says he's looking forward to welcoming curious tourists to the 80-year-old temple.
Unlike Rotary or Lions, Mr Schulz says, the Freemasons don't seek out constituents, so the October 2 event will serve as an educational experience cum passive membership drive.
“Young men come and see the building and go 'wow, I had no idea about this',” he explains. “And the reason they don't know is because - unless they have someone in the family involved - they're not aware, because we don't actively recruit.
“That's one of the key tenants of Freemasonry - we don't coerce people to join.”
Another key element of the brotherhood descended from the King Solomon's Phoenician craftsmen includes raising money for worthy causes (Queensland's Lodge recently gave $300,000 to the Queensland Institute of Medical Research).
“It's about making good men better, and better members of the community,” Mr Schulz says.
Contrary to popular belief, Mr Schulz says, the Freemasonic experience is not religious or “a cult”.
“In fact, when we're at Lodge, we don't talk about religion or politics,” he says. “Because they can be divisive and we have an agreement that we don't talk about either.”
Instead, he describes membership as an opportunity to experience something “authentic” – a quality the Deputy Grand Secretary believes is particularly attractive to modern young men.
“With the increasingly secular society, men are looking for something like this [to join],” he says. “A brotherhood where they can get together - spend some time once a month and have a few drinks afterwards.”
Mr Schulz refers to the “Shed Night,” a movement gaining popularity across Christian churches that offers parishioners the chance to “grow in victory becoming champion sons of the King”.
“[At these events] male members of the church get together and go and hang out in someone's shed for a night and listen to a guest speaker and have a few drinks and talk to one another,” the Freemason says.
“Well, [Freemasonry] is the original Shed Night - it has those sorts of effects on men, the male-bonding type thing.”
There's also the appeal of being part of a worldwide organisation, Mr Schulz says, one where members can go to any lodge, anywhere in the world, and “know that he would be immediately welcomed and looked after if needed”.
The development here.

Site "Maçonaria em Portugal"

A new site dedicated to Freemasonry is operating in Portuguese  and is called "Maçonaria em Portugal". The author is unknown but differente material is included. It states that GOL and GLLP are two larger Obediences in Portugal. Some information about the rite we practice the AASR.


O Rito Escocês Antigo e Aceite ou R.·.E.·.A.·.A.·. é um Rito dentro da Maçonaria, que deriva do Rito de Heredom e da época da fuga dos Cavaleiros Templários para a Escócia.
Ligados ao Antigo Testamento e à lenda de Hiram (lenda base da Maçonaria simbólica) julga-se que alguns dos ritos descritos eram praticados por outras ordens secretas existentes em França como os Martinistas, na Alemanha como os Illuminatti e os Rosa-Cruz e na Escócia como os Templários (estes refugiados nesse país depois da sua perseguição nos Grêmios ou Lojas da classe profissional dos Pedreiros Livres aí existentes).
O rito é composto de três graus simbólicos e trinta filosóficos.

What young Masons want? A view from the U.S.

The other day I heard, once again, from a brother approximately 30 years my senior who told me “what young Masons want.” It was one time too many for me, and so I have put my thoughts on paper as to what a young Mason wants. After all, I’m 34-years old and have been a Mason for 4 years—I should know!
I do not mean this to be a commentary on the division of young and old, but rather to be a proclamation of a young Mason concerning what I believe we want. This is so we might all improve our understanding of one another and progress our fraternity.
It occurred to me that some may not know what young Masons really want. Worse, I think it is often misunderstood or misstated. We “young Masons” or new Masons bear some of the responsibility for this. We are often uncomfortable declaring our desires, our disappointments, and our frustrations. And what do we do? We quietly stop appearing at meetings and simply slip off the rolls. We return to our communities outside the lodge disheartened with Masonry, and—unfortunately for the fraternity—we will often share our disappointments with our friends. Sadly, we then join a group of Masons as diverse as the lodge itself: unfulfilled Masons.
Well, Brethren, I don’t intend to become an unfulfilled Mason. So here I stand. It is vital for the members of the Craft to understand one another so that we can create an environment that is beneficial for all.
Initially, we must discuss Blue Lodge, the birth place of the Master Mason, for without it, Scottish Rite Masonry does not exist. The young man approaching the Craft today does so to supplement and add to what his church and family have already given him. A certain tugging at his soul speaks to him to seek a deeper meaning in life, in family, and in God. He researches and desires an initiation into the esoteric and ancient quest for Truth. He requests a petition with these hopes in mind. Why shouldn’t he? The eloquent writings of Masonic scholars, including the Scottish Rite’s Albert Pike, have hinted at the existence of such knowledge, and Masonic writings abound with hints of this very thing.
What does this man find once he joins? For too many, it’s membership drives, one-day classes, poor and hastily planned ritual, late nights, and a push to become an officer before he is even proficient as a Master Mason. If that man has made it through the three degrees hoping that at the end of his journey some of the promises might be fulfilled, he only learns phrases like “progressive science” and “self-improvement.”

The rest here. 

The other side (of Freemasonry)

Christianity and Freemasonry

The detailed "Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity" edited by Daniel Patte for the Vanderbilt University counts with an interesting chapter about Freemasonry and its origins, relating it with Christian relics and scriptures. As reference titles a mention should be made to Alain Bauer and its book on Issac Newton, to Roger Dachez and its comparison between operative and speculative Freemasons, John Hamill anthology on English Freemasonry, Margaret Jacob and its prestigious book on the enlightenment and the politics of the Eighteenth Century, Douglas Knoop and the relevance of early Masonic cathecisms, Santdon Linden and its study of famous historical figures (Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton) and J.S.M. Ward in a very old book about the quotation of Freemasonry to the Ancient Gods and arcane mystic theology. In a time of revisit to the ancient myths of Christianism (Jesus, Judas, St. Peter and Mary Magdalene) an additional reading is needed on how Masonic historiography tells and analyzes all these connected events and historical figures.

June

1. This month of June inaugurates a new cycle in the life of our Grand Lodge and the Brethren in general. The Grand Lodge will recognize its six Grand Master and the time will come for the rejuvenation of the Craft. June is a month of exaltation as marks the beginning of summer, the most beautiful spectacle of Nature in all its radiance. The month symbolizes also a time of relax for the majority of our citizens, in a time of financial difficulties and economic restrictions. Freemasonry does not make politics but if we allow ourselves to recover the original sense of the term (Greek) it is for politikos to make its job, in the sense that we are, at the different levels of society, responsible for the fate of the polis (the city), and nobody should be divorced from that testimony of citizenship. We share what we cultivate, sound or bad.

2. June is also a time to prepare the elections for the Worshipful Masters of the Lodges and for the current ones to leave the chair. It is a healthy example of freshness that Freemasonry gives to the profane world, showing that we are not stinky to power, that being a leader is just a provisional role performed for the benefit of all. If we look at Corporations and corporate associations this is something rare to assist and exemplifies the degradation of the social tissue and the aging of our society. The Craft will rush the preparative for the Masonic meetings that will be held in Portugal at late September, an opportunity to high profile visitors from fraternal Grand Lodges to watch the reinforcing of the columns of Portuguese freemasonry and to the expansion of Lodges. We may be around 1500 members in our Craft, probably.

3. It is a time to relax and must be a time to reflect about the role Freemasonry occupies in the 21st Century. In older and larger Obediences the time arrived to open to society and unfasten the doors to the public, showing that the conspirational theories about what we do are fairytales. In some constituencies, a day is dedicated to lecture the public about the Craft, its values, its history and rich symbolism. It would be appealing, if the next Grand Master consider doing the same. It is commonly said that Freemasonry loose, somehow, its character because the values that embodied are now part of the patrimony of free and open societies guided by liberty and the rule of law. It is also said that Freemasonry should select new banners and ribbons of combat in the pursuit of happiness and perfection. Without question this is accurate and the time came to show us out. Freemasonry needs new blood and to attract the finest people around, as it did in the past.

4. In this clarification, the battleground between Regular Freemasonry and Irregular Freemasonry needs to be pacified as between Freemasonry, religions and spiritual creeds. Freemasonry respects the political alternation in society and has no intention to substitute the political parties and govern the world as our enemies like to insinuate. We don’t challenge the religious believes or look to occupy its space; we are a Brotherhood of Men, not spiritual leaders of anyone. We respect those who pursue that path but we never forget that some of most dreadful atrocities were done in the name of religion.

Freemasonry looks for a new era of Aquarius, of peace, tolerance, liberty and mutual understanding. This is our endeavor.