Consecration

In any constituency the installation of the Officers of a Lodge marks the starting point of its Masonic year. For Luz do Oriente the appraised ceremony have two meanings: it concludes a process of four years to raise columns of a regular lodge in Macao [China]; it validates the process of training of Brethren for the benefits of the Royal Art. In the first case Freemasonry has a long history in Macau of almost 250 years making the Royal Art available for Free Men of Good Report believers in the presence of God among Men and its enlightening luminary. Part of the history –completely unknown – needs to be told. In the second case this enterprise would not be possible without the pushing effort of two Portuguese, a British and an American Master Masons. For the circumstances of life one of them is no more close to us but the other three are part of the blocks that brought our Temple from the scratches. We turn to be a larger family with people from different social background, either Portuguese of from other nationalities. This process is closely connected to the sort of society Macau is, a crossroad between East and West, the gate to that marvelous civilization that is China. In this cosmopolitan gathering, this melting pot of races, cultures and even dialects, Freemasonry turns to be the connecting point to transport that process of cultural interexchange more deeply into the soul of Men. Under strict discrency we raise temples to the virtues of men and we burry the vices that oppress their liberty. As we are doing for centuries.   

Restart

Preparing a new Masonic session, in the occasion the first of the civil year, is always an occasion for reviewing and prospect. Reviewing the path we walk since a triplex of wills became the original formation of the triangle. Since then, the triangle rotated around its center, some went out, others come in, and it becomes recurrent to say that in every session happens something new, some tiny light is taken inside the circle turning into a square. Almost thirty sessions have passed and some kilometers of perambulations of the officers who have the duty to lighten the lights and unlight them, have been walked. I never see it anywhere but arrange, always, sometime in the beginning to read a versicle of the Holy Book of the Christians. This year we go through others and also Lao Tse, a Chinese philospher whose personal reflexions don't cease to amaze me. The wisdom that emanates from them is ravishing. A new breed of youngsters is coming in and this makes me very happy. This reveals application, work, strong will. Without will there is no Royal Art as we Scottish Freemasons enjoy it. The Master of Works as leader of the group has the obligation to project that will and make it the collective tone and purpose. There is a publication of Aprendiz, our GLLP's newsletter that sets the precise tone of the job: the Lodge CAN be considered an autocracy centered in the Worshipful Master. An autocracy that will implode when that WM decides to become authoritarian. The job of the WM is a original mood of leadership, a service to the community of masons, giving place to the building-up of a precise group culture, that is, as an identity shared by everybody. Max DePree wrote somethin like this "to be a leader means having the opportunity to kame a meaningful difference in the lives of those who permit leaders to lead". Turning into the Machiavellian distinction, the case is not to be loved or despised by others; the case is to be comprehended in the intimate of ourselves. Without this sharing there isn't rational leadership. Prospect of the targets we need to achieve: a column of Apprentices to educate; a bunch of Fellowcraft to exalt; a group of Master to turn into exceptional leaders. The office of a Worshipful Master is transitory by definition: it is an expression of command limited by the tenure of the officer and nothing more. It is always dreadful when the shadow of the Master hovers like a cloud over the office of its successor. I have seen this repeting itself in our Craft.
Gama