Calendar

Click for "Dinner and a Movie" details.

Miscellaneous

Dues!!! Dues!!! Dues!!! 

Brother Master Masons, please check the date of issue on your Dues Card. 

2005 dues are past due.  Any Master Mason who has not paid his 2004 dues will be
suspended at the First Stated Meeting in June.  Lodge dues are $30.00 and Grand Lodge
 per capita is $29.00 for a total of $59.00 for most of our members. Dual members
belonging to an out-of-state Lodge also pay $59.00.  Plural members belonging to
another Colorado Lodge need only to pay the Lodge dues of $30.00.  If you are unable
to pay and would like the Lodge to remit your dues, write to the Lodge and ask this be
done.  Make checks payable to El Paso Lodge # 13, and mail to PO Box 7066, Colorado Springs
CO 80933-7066.  If you have any questions, please call the Worshipful Master or the Lodge Secretary.

What's Your Answer?

A Mason is sometimes asked by a friend, a neighbor, or a business associate, "What do the Masons do?" The question may be worded more generally, "What are the Masons?"

In either case, the Brother is challenged by the realization that there is no simple answer which he can rattle off "from the top of his head."

Some of these considerations arouse the fraternal doubt that "you can't tell that," or "that's secret," so that the Brother's reply is marked by hesitation or reluctance to explain.

Puzzled by the difficulty of knowing what facets of the vast subject of Freemasonry the questioner is really inquiring about, the Mason "just doesn't know where to begin, " and too often may avoid a simple statement of facts. He isn't sure of what to say...

Would YOU know what to say?

First of all, he will determine to give a Masonic answer, one which asserts the real nature of the Fraternity as a spiritual force, as "a way of life" which seeks to improve men morally and spiritually, by associating with other idealistic men who want to improve the quality of life around them by means of a brotherhood which emphasizes the Fatherhood of God.

There are really so few "secrets" which a Mason is required to keep, and so much that he should be proud to proclaim to others, that his principal concern in answering questions is probably the doubt that he can give an adequate Masonic reply.

A Mason is also free to explain that Freemasonry is a charitable organization, which acts to relieve the distress of local individuals who are victims of calamity, and that it has created programs and institutions to care for its needy senior citizens, or to provide scholarship aid for worthy and needy young people in college. Masonic Homes and Hospitals, and Grand Lodge Scholarship Programs are examples of such achievements.

Freemasonry is also, but not primarily, a social organization, which arranges special meetings to which are invited wives, children, neighbors and friends for the purposes of entertainment and sociability. Masons seek the pleasure of associating with other members of the community, hoping thereby to reveal the serious and idealistic nature of the Fraternity's objectives.

There is so much that a Mason can tell about his beloved Fraternity. But the way in which he tells it is more important than what he tells. When a Mason is conscious and proud of the moral and spiritual achievements he has made through Masonry, when he has been inspired to display the beauties of friendship, morality, and brotherly love, when he realizes that his own personal life is the most important evidence he can give to show what a Mason is, he usually finds it very easy to talk about the Fraternity to his non-Masonic friends. When he knows that his lodge is a spiritual force, when it is learning and teaching its members the universal ideals of the Craft, when it is actively promoting charitable programs and pursuing truth, he will tell what Freemasonry is with conviction and enthusiasm.

Vince Anderson, WM

El Paso Lodge Directory

The Membership Committee and the El Paso 13 Benevolent Fund, Inc (the vocational scholarship fund) will publish an El Paso 13 Lodge Directory.  Business-card ads are being accepted for $10.00 each to support the publication.  Directories will be available for a $6.00 donation.  All profits will go to support the vocational scholarship fund.  Contact WB Dan Anderson at 332-3999.