Worshipful Master’s Message
The following remarks are taken from Worshipful Master Robert Malt’s Report at the HE 88 Annual Meeting on December 2, 2019:
“Good Evening Brothers All,
I am honored and proud to stand here tonight as Worshipful Master of Hartford Evergreen Lodge #88, to present my Master’s report for 2019. To serve this lodge, or any lodge, in this capacity is an honor and a privilege that no words can explain. With this experience, my masonic journey has just begun. As I close my eyes and reflect on all the good work that we have accomplished this year, it brings me great satisfaction. I often think of the wonderful meals that Pauline’s Stock Pot Soup Kitchen can create in their new oven and stove, because of our generous donation. I think of the children that are getting proper legal voice, when they can’t speak for themselves, because of how we support them through the Children’s Law Center. I think of all the joy we bring into our local community, from the food drives, the Halloween party, scholarship fundraisers, and other community involvement. It was a great experience to be able to raise 3 brothers to the sublime degree of a Master Mason. My goal for this year was to focus and expand on harmony. At every meeting that we have, we listen to the words spoken by the Senior Warden: “harmony being the strength and support of all societies, more especially of ours.” Without harmony, we cease to exist as Masons. I look back at all the photos that I have taken this year, and I can tell you that harmony was amongst us. I urge future officers to come to devote time to understand and revisit the teachings of masonry, through the three degrees. To understand the oath that you took on yonder book is to live the oath. I would like to sincerely thank all the brothers of this lodge, and other lodges, who have helped make this year a success. I would like to thank all the elected and appointed officers that make up the vital foundation of our lodge. In closing, I would like to read a small passage written by a 33rd degree mason from Massachusetts.” “Many have asked for a definition of Masonry, but few have received a satisfactory answer. The explanation most frequently given is that it is a science veiled in allegory and explained by symbols. This explanation really means little to most of us, inasmuch as anyone may interpret our symbols, and Masonry itself, according to his own light. May I offer my definition. Masonry, in the final analysis, is a way of life, and a philosophy of life. It manifests itself in our daily contacts with our fellow man. It is not what the tongue proclaims, my Brethren, but what the heart contains. The true Mason, then, is the one who interprets the symbols by which Masonry is explained, through exemplification in his daily life of what was put into such symbols, long before Solomon started construction of the Great White Temple which crowned Moriah’s Mount. Masonry should be a brotherhood of Man, and this need not be an idle dream, my Brethren, even though it may require long and lasting, patient effort to overcome error and prejudice. I strongly believe the day will yet come, possibly within the lives of some here tonight, when battle flags will be forever furled, when battle tanks will become tractors of the husbandman, and the Eternal Truths which are Freemasonry will be universally recognized by a world forever at peace, through the practice of what our symbols contain. Then, and only then, will Masonry become fully developed.” Written by Douglas F. Knight 33⁰ (My Grandfather)
Fraternally,
Robert P Malt
