My Brethren,

New brethren usually approach their membership in our fraternity with a sense of anticipation. Like many things in life, the more you know the better understanding you have of it, and ultimately enjoy it more.

To enhance your enjoyment, encourage your interest, and help you savor the complexity of the craft, mentors are needed. A mentor helps the brother to discover the potential within them to succeed in their Masonic journey. A good mentor is respectful, reliable, patient, trustworthy, good listener and excellent communicator.

A mentor can make a difference in a brothers understanding of the “true” meaning of Masonry, a meaning that instills a new optimism and hope, an emotional affection for the grace of nature and above all a reverence for the Creator.

New brothers can find the craft to be an exciting but also an intimidating place, while juggling the real world with work, family and other responsibilities. The wealth of knowledge that an experienced Mason has is priceless when passed on to a newly raised Brother.

For a new brother the illuminative and unitive messages of degree work must be followed up by knowledgeable brothers who can dissect for the brother the essential idea of Masonry. Without a follow up, all the new brother really remembers is “Wow! How did he memorize all that?”

A modest, unassuming, knowledgeable mentor’s mission is not to wow the new brother with feats of memorization, but to attempt to supply valuable information relative to a clear picture of the spirit and beauty, which is the real body of Masonry.

Brethren, proficient presentation of degree work is necessary for the continuation of the craft. However, I firmly believe that in order for our craft to continue in this complex, and more times than not, cynical society, mentors should unfold to the newly raised brother the simplicity and genuineness of the thousand of “words” they have been required to listen to.

Brethren, let us continue to extend to our new brothers the real legacy of Masonry. Become a mentor, help to build up and pass on to the next generation of Masons the real meaning of Masonry, which is not the pomp and trappings of the craft, but the spirit, devotion and excitement of learning about the deeper wisdom operating within us, about the insight into the relevance of spiritual, religious and secular dimensions and a path to a more complete life.

Lou Rizzo
Worshipful Master