From the East – January 2020

Greetings Brethren,

January marks the start of our new Masonic year and new positions and stations for our officer line.  I for one certainly feel a little bit like a new entered apprentice standing in the North-East corner of the Lodge wondering what lies ahead.

We are told in our Entered Apprentice lecture that the new brother is placed there as a new building is started with a cornerstone in the North-East corner.  The newly initiated brother is starting to build his future in Masonry and every officer in his new position is also starting to build his proficiency in his new office. In this regard, the amount of perfect ashlars required to complete the “building” can be daunting.

There is another less common but I think the equally sublime analogy that I have read as to the brother being placed in the North-East corner. When we are placed in the North-East corner we are halfway between the darkness of the North and the light of the East. We are hoping to leave the darkness behind as we journey to the East and the discovery of more Masonic light.  A beautiful part of Masonry is that while we must always search for more light in the East, we can never get to the end of our journey and never learn all the light that exists.  But so long as we search for that light in the East we will progress further and further from the darkness of the North.

I look forward to seeing all our brothers in the lodge meetings we journey eastwardly together.

Fraternally,

F. Lawrence Vernamonti