TENETS OF FREEMASONRY
For November 1, 2020
Joseph F. Lopena, DGL
Love places the highest possible valuation on another person. A man’s mother or father, his wife or sweetheart, his children, his intimate friends, he values not for advantages he may gain from them, not for their usefulness, but each one in his own person and for his own sake. We work for such persons, we make sacrifices for them, we delight to be with them; that in detail and practice, is what is meant by love.
What then, is Brotherly Love?Manifestly, it means that we place on another man the highest possible valuation as a friend, a companion, an associate, a neighbor. “By the exercise of Brotherly Love, we are taught to regard the whole human species as one family.” We do not ask that, from our relationship, we shall achieve any selfish gain. Our relationship with a brother is its own justification, its own reward. Brotherly Love is one of the supreme values without which life is lonely, unhappy, and ugly. This is not a hope or dream, but a fact. Freemasonry builds on that fact, provides opportunity for us to have such fellowship, encourages us to understand and to practice it, and to make it one of the laws of our existence, one of our Principal Tenets.
Relief is one of the forms of charity. We often think of charity as relief from poverty. To care for the helpless or unemployed is deemed usually a responsibility resting on the public. As a rule, the public discharges that responsibility through some form of organized charity financed by general subscriptions or out of public funds.
Our conception of relief is broader and deeper than this. We fully recognize the emergency demands made by physical and economic distress; but we likewise understand that the cashing of a check is not necessarily a complete solution of the difficulty. Masonic relief takes it for granted that any man, no matter how industrious and frugal he may be, through sudden misfortune, or other conditions over which he has no control, may be in temporary need of a helping hand. To extend it is not what is generally described as charity, but is one of the inevitable acts of Brotherhood. Any conception of Brotherhood must include this willingness to give necessary aid. Therefore, Relief, Masonically understood, is a tenet.
Truth, the last of the Principal Tenets, is meant something more than the search for truths in the intellectual sense, though that is included. “Truth is a divine attribute and the foundation of every virtue. To be good and true is the first lesson we are taught in Masonry.” In any permanent Brotherhood, members must be truthful in character and habits, dependable, men of honor, on whom we can rely to be faithful fellows and loyal friends. Truth is a vital requirement if a brotherhood is to endure and we, therefore, accept it as such. (The Masonic Scholar)