Words to ponder by: On Freemasonry

Greetings Brethren!

Sharing some texts from excerpts of “MASONRY AND THE PHILLIPINE REVOLUTION” by MWBro Reynold S Fajardo and likewise a reminder of our continuing commitment as Masons to

……”BROTHERLY LOVE, RELIEF, TRUTH and LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY”.

"The meetings of the Lodge were of utmost interest. They were feasts of patriotism and Masonic apostleships; a marvelous communion of ideas and action, spirit and matter. Never did lips utter such eloquent appeals in the name of a universal brotherhood of all men as were heard at these gatherings. Never could Masonry have a more noble or a more chivalrous objective."

– TEODORO M. KALAW

"Masonry has consecrated its efforts to the task of uniting all men in brotherhood, erasing the differences of country, race and color, of banishing war, replacing the din of arms and clanking of chains with the sound of work and industry. The failure of the present Government, my dear brethren, proclaims the necessity of trying other civilizing means. If the despotic regime now in force in the Philippines oppresses without doing any constructive or progressive work, then it is our duty to carry beyond the seas the light of Masonry. Let us strive, therefore, to extend to the remotest corners of the Philippines the principles of our august order, teaching the people by precept and example, if not by legislation, the love of liberty, equality and fraternity."

- MARCELO DEL PILAR

"Masonry was established to give our people a school which would provide it with models for cooperative action (normas de sociabilidad) and accustom it to live as a collectivity. In the bosom of Masonry we have learned to live a life of association; in the midst of that brotherhood we have communicated to one another our impressions our thoughts, our aspirations, and we have made ourselves apt to unite our desires and our acts."

– MARIANO PONCE

"There is no place for doubt. A Fraternity that, like Masonry, has existed and will always exist through the centuries, paying unremitting homage to the eternal verities, consecrating its efforts to the redemption of humanity, is the destined liberator to bring freedom and right to the Philippines ."

– TOMAS AREOLA

"Masons should not rest so long as the world nurtures a tyrant, so long as the night gathers in its echoes the moans of the oppressed, so long as there are slaves, so long as there are oppressors. And this work is perhaps the greatest that Masonry has imposed upon itself and the only one worthy of its universal name."

- JOSE RIZAL

Bro Ben Apacible [via email]
Kalilayan Lodge No. 37, Lucena City
Araw Lodge No. 18, Manila