Remember Your Absent Brother

Does attending a meeting of your Lodge really demonstrate true interest in the fraternity? And does non-attending mean a lack of interest?

A Lodge recently looked at suspending a brother for non-payment of dues. No one had heard of him, let alone seen him in Lodge. It appeared he wasn’t contributing much except a cheque and, even then, he stopped contributing that.

It would have been very easy to be lazy Craftsmen and to vote for suspension and save the Lodge the ever-increasing fees to Grand Lodge. But someone decided to check into the situation. It turns out the brother, now 82 years of age, had been hospitalised much of the year and barely had money for medical costs. He hadn’t attended meetings as he had moved to a small town in the 1960s but continued his membership.

It would have been very easy to be lazy Craftsman and simply remit his dues. But a new brother in the Lodge instantly whipped out a chequebook and put out his own money for a brother he didn’t know and likely would never meet.

It was an act of selflessness that serves as an example for Freemasons far senior in the quarries.

The old brother was astounded. He wrote the Lodge and explained how he loved the Craft, had followed the principles of it as best he could and hoped he could live up to those many men in his Lodge years ago who did the same.

Brethren, it’s imperative as Freemasons that we continue to remain in constant contact with each other to lend help and encouragement and just to let a brother know that someone is thinking of them. For while a brother of the Order may not be able to be at meetings, that may not make him any less a brother. Or a Freemason.