"So Mote It Be" - franc maçonnerie
Freemasons ·· For those asking what SMIB means , here is an explanation.
"So Mote It Be"
How familiar the phrase is. No Lodge is ever opened or closed, in due form, without using it. Yet how few know how old it is, much less what a deep meaning it has in it. Like so many old and lovely things, it is so near to us that we do not see it.
As far back as we can go in the annals of the Craft we find this old phrase. Its form betrays its age. The word MOTE is an Anglo-Saxon word, derived from an anomalous verb, MOTAN. Chaucer uses the exact phrase in the same sense in which we use it, meaning “So May It Be.” It is found in the Regius Poem, the oldest document of the Craft, just as we use it today.
As everyone knows, it is the Masonic form of the ancient AMEN which echoes through the ages, gathering meaning and music as it goes until it is one of the richest and most haunting of words. At first only a sign of assent, on the part either of an individual or of an assembly, to words of prayer or praise, it has become to stand as a sentinel at the gateway of silence.
When we have uttered all that we can utter, and our poor words seem like ripples on the bosom of the unspoken, somehow this familiar phrase gathers up all that is left - our dumb yearnings, our deepest longings - and bears them aloft to One who understands. In some strange way it seems to speak for us into the very ear of God the things for which words were never made.
So, naturally, it has a place of honor among us. At the marriage Altar it speaks its blessing as young love walks toward the bliss or sorrow of hidden years. It stands beside the cradle when we dedicate our little ones to the Holy life, mingling its benediction with our vows. At the grave side it utters its sad response to the shadowy AMEN which death pronounces over our friends.
When, in our turn, we see the end of the road, and would make a last will and testament, leaving our earnings and savings to those whom we love, the old legal phrase asks us to repeat after it: “In The Name Of God, AMEN.” And with us, as with Gerontius in his Dream, the last word we hear when the voices of earth grow faint and the silence of God covers us, is the old AMEN, So Mote It Be.
How impressively it echoes through the Book of Holy Law. We hear it in the Psalms, as chorus answers to chorus, where it is sometimes reduplicated for emphasis. In the talks of Jesus with his friends it has a striking use, hidden in the English version. The oft-repeated phrase, “Verily, Verily I Say Unto You,” if rightly translated means, AMEN, AMEN, I say unto you.” Later, in the Epistles of Paul, the word AMEN becomes the name of Christ, who is the AMEN of God to the faith of man.
So, too, in the Lodge, at opening, at closing, and in the hour of initiation. No Mason ever enters upon any great or important undertaking without invoking the aid of Deity. And he ends his prayer with the old phrase, “So Mote It Be.” Which is another way of saying: “The Will Of God Be Done.” Or, whatever be the answer of God to his prayer: “So Be It - because it is wise and right.
What, then, is the meaning of this old phrase, so interwoven with all our Masonic lore, simple, tender, haunting? It has two meanings for us everywhere, in the Church, or in the Lodge. First, it is assent of man to the way and Will Of God; assent to His Commands; assent to His Providence, even when a tender, terrible stroke of death takes from us one much loved and leaves us forlorn.
Still, somehow, we must say:” So it is; so be it. He is a wise man, a brave man; who, baffled by the woes of life, when disaster follows fast and follows faster, can nevertheless accept his lot as a part of the Will of God and say, though it may almost choke him to say it:
“So Mote It Be.” It is not blind submission, nor dumb resignation, but a wise reconciliation to the Will of the Eternal.
The other meaning of the phrase is even more wonderful; it is the assent of God to the aspiration of man. Man can bear so much - anything, perhaps - if he feels that God knows, cares and feels for him and with him. If God says Amen, So it is, to our faith and hope and love; it links our perplexed meanings, and helps us to see, however dimly, or in a glass darkly, that there is a wise and good purpose in life, despite its sorrow and suffering, and that we are not at the mercy of Fate or the whim of Chance.
Does God speak to man, confirming his faith and hope? If so, how? Indeed yes! God is not the great I Was, but the great I Am, and He is neither deaf nor dumb. In Him we live and move and have our being - He Speaks to us in nature, in the moral law, and in our own hearts, if we have ears to hear. But He speaks most clearly in the Book of Holy Law which lies open upon our Alter.
Nor is that all. Some of us hold that the Word Of God “Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us, Full Of Grace and Truth,” in a life the loveliest ever lived among men, showing us what life is, what it means, and to what fine issues it ascends when we do the Will of God on earth as it is done in Heaven, No one of us but grows wistful when he thinks of the life of Jesus, however far we fall below it.
Today men are asking the question: Does it do any good to pray? The man who actually prays does not ask such a question. As well ask if it does a bird any good to sing, or a flower to bloom? Prayer is natural and instinctive in man. We are made so. Man is made for prayer, as sparks ascending seek the sun. He would not need religious faith if the objects of it did not exist.
Are prayers ever answered? Yes, always, as Emerson taught us long ago. Who rises from prayer a better man, his prayer is answered - and that is as far as we need to go. The deepest desire, the ruling motive of a man, is his actual prayer, and it shapes his life after its form and color. In this sense all prayer is answered, and that is why we ought to be careful what we pray for - because in the end we always get it.
What, then is the good of prayer? It makes us repose on the unknown with hope; it makes us ready for life. It is a recognition of laws and the thread of our conjunction with them. It is not the purpose of prayer to beg or make God do what we want done. Its purpose is to bring us to do the Will of God, which is greater and wiser than our will. It is not to use God, but to be used by Him in the service of His plan.
Can man by prayer change the Will of God? No, and Yes. True prayer does not wish or seek to change the larger Will of God, which involves in its sweep and scope the duty and destiny of humanity. But it can and does change the Will of God concerning us, because it changes our will and attitude towards Him, which is the vital thing in prayer for us.
For example, if a man living a wicked life, we know what the Will of God will be for him. All evil ways have been often tried, and we know what the end is, just as we know the answer to a problem in geometry. But if a man who is living wickedly changes his way of living and his inner attitude, he changes the Will of God - if not His Will, at least His Intention. That is, he attains what even the Divine Will could not give him and do for him unless it had been effected by His Will and Prayer.
The place of Prayer in Masonry is not perfunctory. It is not a mere matter of form and rote. It is vital and profound. As a man enters the Lodge as an initiate, prayer is offered for him, to God, in whom he puts his trust. Later, in a crisis of his initiation, he must pray for himself, orally or mentally as his heart may elect. It is not just a ceremony; it is basic in the faith and spirit of Masonry. Still later, in a scene which no Mason ever forgets, when the shadow is darkest, and the most precious thing a Mason can desire or seek seems lost, in the perplexity and despair of the Lodge, a prayer is offered. As recorded in our Monitors, it is a mosaic of Bible words, in which the grim facts of life and death are set forth in stark reality, and appeal is made to the pity and light of God.
It is truly a great prayer, to join in which is to place ourselves in the very hands of God, as all must do in the end, trust His Will and way, following where no path is into the soft and fascinating darkness which men call death. And the response of the Lodge to that prayer, as to all others offered at its Altar, is the old, challenging phrase, “So Mote It Be!”
Brother, do not be ashamed to pray, as you are taught in the Lodge and the Church. It is a part of the sweetness and sanity of life, refreshing the soul and making clear the mind. There is more wisdom in a whispered prayer than in all the libraries of the world. It is not our business to instruct God. He knows what things we have need for before we ask him. He does not need our prayer, but we do - if only to make us acquainted with the best Friend we have.
The greatest of all teachers of the soul left us a little liturgy called the Lord’s Prayer. He told us to use it each for himself, in the closet when the door is shut and the din and hum and litter of the world is outside. Try it Brother; it will sweeten life, make its load lighter, its joy brighter, and the way of duty plainer.
Two tiny prayers have floated down to us from ages agone, which are worth remembering; one by a great Saint, the other by two brothers. “Grant Me, Lord, ardently to desire, wisely to study, rightly to understand and perfectly to fulfill that which pleaseth Thee.” And the second is after the manner: “May two brothers enjoy and serve Thee together, and so live today that we may be worthy to live tomorrow.”
“SO MOTE IT BE”
"So Mote It Be"
How familiar the phrase is. No Lodge is ever opened or closed, in due form, without using it. Yet how few know how old it is, much less what a deep meaning it has in it. Like so many old and lovely things, it is so near to us that we do not see it.
As far back as we can go in the annals of the Craft we find this old phrase. Its form betrays its age. The word MOTE is an Anglo-Saxon word, derived from an anomalous verb, MOTAN. Chaucer uses the exact phrase in the same sense in which we use it, meaning “So May It Be.” It is found in the Regius Poem, the oldest document of the Craft, just as we use it today.
As everyone knows, it is the Masonic form of the ancient AMEN which echoes through the ages, gathering meaning and music as it goes until it is one of the richest and most haunting of words. At first only a sign of assent, on the part either of an individual or of an assembly, to words of prayer or praise, it has become to stand as a sentinel at the gateway of silence.
When we have uttered all that we can utter, and our poor words seem like ripples on the bosom of the unspoken, somehow this familiar phrase gathers up all that is left - our dumb yearnings, our deepest longings - and bears them aloft to One who understands. In some strange way it seems to speak for us into the very ear of God the things for which words were never made.
So, naturally, it has a place of honor among us. At the marriage Altar it speaks its blessing as young love walks toward the bliss or sorrow of hidden years. It stands beside the cradle when we dedicate our little ones to the Holy life, mingling its benediction with our vows. At the grave side it utters its sad response to the shadowy AMEN which death pronounces over our friends.
When, in our turn, we see the end of the road, and would make a last will and testament, leaving our earnings and savings to those whom we love, the old legal phrase asks us to repeat after it: “In The Name Of God, AMEN.” And with us, as with Gerontius in his Dream, the last word we hear when the voices of earth grow faint and the silence of God covers us, is the old AMEN, So Mote It Be.
How impressively it echoes through the Book of Holy Law. We hear it in the Psalms, as chorus answers to chorus, where it is sometimes reduplicated for emphasis. In the talks of Jesus with his friends it has a striking use, hidden in the English version. The oft-repeated phrase, “Verily, Verily I Say Unto You,” if rightly translated means, AMEN, AMEN, I say unto you.” Later, in the Epistles of Paul, the word AMEN becomes the name of Christ, who is the AMEN of God to the faith of man.
So, too, in the Lodge, at opening, at closing, and in the hour of initiation. No Mason ever enters upon any great or important undertaking without invoking the aid of Deity. And he ends his prayer with the old phrase, “So Mote It Be.” Which is another way of saying: “The Will Of God Be Done.” Or, whatever be the answer of God to his prayer: “So Be It - because it is wise and right.
What, then, is the meaning of this old phrase, so interwoven with all our Masonic lore, simple, tender, haunting? It has two meanings for us everywhere, in the Church, or in the Lodge. First, it is assent of man to the way and Will Of God; assent to His Commands; assent to His Providence, even when a tender, terrible stroke of death takes from us one much loved and leaves us forlorn.
Still, somehow, we must say:” So it is; so be it. He is a wise man, a brave man; who, baffled by the woes of life, when disaster follows fast and follows faster, can nevertheless accept his lot as a part of the Will of God and say, though it may almost choke him to say it:
“So Mote It Be.” It is not blind submission, nor dumb resignation, but a wise reconciliation to the Will of the Eternal.
The other meaning of the phrase is even more wonderful; it is the assent of God to the aspiration of man. Man can bear so much - anything, perhaps - if he feels that God knows, cares and feels for him and with him. If God says Amen, So it is, to our faith and hope and love; it links our perplexed meanings, and helps us to see, however dimly, or in a glass darkly, that there is a wise and good purpose in life, despite its sorrow and suffering, and that we are not at the mercy of Fate or the whim of Chance.
Does God speak to man, confirming his faith and hope? If so, how? Indeed yes! God is not the great I Was, but the great I Am, and He is neither deaf nor dumb. In Him we live and move and have our being - He Speaks to us in nature, in the moral law, and in our own hearts, if we have ears to hear. But He speaks most clearly in the Book of Holy Law which lies open upon our Alter.
Nor is that all. Some of us hold that the Word Of God “Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us, Full Of Grace and Truth,” in a life the loveliest ever lived among men, showing us what life is, what it means, and to what fine issues it ascends when we do the Will of God on earth as it is done in Heaven, No one of us but grows wistful when he thinks of the life of Jesus, however far we fall below it.
Today men are asking the question: Does it do any good to pray? The man who actually prays does not ask such a question. As well ask if it does a bird any good to sing, or a flower to bloom? Prayer is natural and instinctive in man. We are made so. Man is made for prayer, as sparks ascending seek the sun. He would not need religious faith if the objects of it did not exist.
Are prayers ever answered? Yes, always, as Emerson taught us long ago. Who rises from prayer a better man, his prayer is answered - and that is as far as we need to go. The deepest desire, the ruling motive of a man, is his actual prayer, and it shapes his life after its form and color. In this sense all prayer is answered, and that is why we ought to be careful what we pray for - because in the end we always get it.
What, then is the good of prayer? It makes us repose on the unknown with hope; it makes us ready for life. It is a recognition of laws and the thread of our conjunction with them. It is not the purpose of prayer to beg or make God do what we want done. Its purpose is to bring us to do the Will of God, which is greater and wiser than our will. It is not to use God, but to be used by Him in the service of His plan.
Can man by prayer change the Will of God? No, and Yes. True prayer does not wish or seek to change the larger Will of God, which involves in its sweep and scope the duty and destiny of humanity. But it can and does change the Will of God concerning us, because it changes our will and attitude towards Him, which is the vital thing in prayer for us.
For example, if a man living a wicked life, we know what the Will of God will be for him. All evil ways have been often tried, and we know what the end is, just as we know the answer to a problem in geometry. But if a man who is living wickedly changes his way of living and his inner attitude, he changes the Will of God - if not His Will, at least His Intention. That is, he attains what even the Divine Will could not give him and do for him unless it had been effected by His Will and Prayer.
The place of Prayer in Masonry is not perfunctory. It is not a mere matter of form and rote. It is vital and profound. As a man enters the Lodge as an initiate, prayer is offered for him, to God, in whom he puts his trust. Later, in a crisis of his initiation, he must pray for himself, orally or mentally as his heart may elect. It is not just a ceremony; it is basic in the faith and spirit of Masonry. Still later, in a scene which no Mason ever forgets, when the shadow is darkest, and the most precious thing a Mason can desire or seek seems lost, in the perplexity and despair of the Lodge, a prayer is offered. As recorded in our Monitors, it is a mosaic of Bible words, in which the grim facts of life and death are set forth in stark reality, and appeal is made to the pity and light of God.
It is truly a great prayer, to join in which is to place ourselves in the very hands of God, as all must do in the end, trust His Will and way, following where no path is into the soft and fascinating darkness which men call death. And the response of the Lodge to that prayer, as to all others offered at its Altar, is the old, challenging phrase, “So Mote It Be!”
Brother, do not be ashamed to pray, as you are taught in the Lodge and the Church. It is a part of the sweetness and sanity of life, refreshing the soul and making clear the mind. There is more wisdom in a whispered prayer than in all the libraries of the world. It is not our business to instruct God. He knows what things we have need for before we ask him. He does not need our prayer, but we do - if only to make us acquainted with the best Friend we have.
The greatest of all teachers of the soul left us a little liturgy called the Lord’s Prayer. He told us to use it each for himself, in the closet when the door is shut and the din and hum and litter of the world is outside. Try it Brother; it will sweeten life, make its load lighter, its joy brighter, and the way of duty plainer.
Two tiny prayers have floated down to us from ages agone, which are worth remembering; one by a great Saint, the other by two brothers. “Grant Me, Lord, ardently to desire, wisely to study, rightly to understand and perfectly to fulfill that which pleaseth Thee.” And the second is after the manner: “May two brothers enjoy and serve Thee together, and so live today that we may be worthy to live tomorrow.”
“SO MOTE IT BE”
Pour ceux qui demandent ce que signifie SMIB, voici une explication.
« Alors, Mote It Be"
Combien connaissent l'expression est. Aucun Lodge ne se forme jamais ouvert ou fermé, en raison, sans l'utiliser. Pourtant, combien peu de gens savent à quel âge il est, beaucoup moins quel un profond sens il a dedans. Comme tant de choses anciennes et belle, elle est si près de nous que nous ne le vois pas.
Aussi loin que nous pouvons aller dans les annales de l'artisanat, nous trouvons cette vieille expression. Sa forme trahit son âge. Le mot MOTE est un mot Anglo-Saxon, dérivé d'un verbe anomal, MOTAN. Chaucer utilise l'expression exacte dans le même sens où nous l'utilisons, sens « Alors que ce soit. » On le trouve dans le poème de Regius, le plus ancien document de l'artisanat, tout comme nous l'employons aujourd'hui.
Comme chacun le sait, c'est la forme maçonnique de l'AMEN ancien qui résonne à travers les âges, collecte des sens et la musique comme il va jusqu'à ce qu'il est l'un des plus riches et plus envoûtante de mots. Dans un premier temps uniquement un signe d'assentiment, de la part d'un individu ou d'un assembly, aux mots de la prière ou la louange, il est devenu pour se présenter comme une sentinelle aux portes du silence.
Lorsque nous avons prononcé tout ce que nous pouvons prononcer, et nos pauvres mots semblent comme des ondulations sur la poitrine du non-dit, en quelque sorte cette expression familière recueille tout ce qui est laissé - nos désirs muets, nos plus profonds désirs - et eux en altitude par rapport à celui qui comprend. D'une certaine façon étrange, il semble prendre la parole pour nous dans l'oreille tout de Dieu les choses pour lesquelles mots n'ont jamais faits.
Alors, naturellement, il a une place d'honneur parmi nous. Au mariage autel il parle sa bénédiction comme jeune amour se dirige vers le bonheur ou de tristesse des années cachées. Il est situé à côté de la station d'accueil lorsque nous dédions nos plus petits à la vie sainte, mêlant sa bénédiction avec nos vœux. Sur le côté grave, il prononce sa réponse triste à l'AMEN ténébreux dont la mort se prononce sur nos amis.
Lorsque, à notre tour, nous voir la fin de la route et ferait un dernières volontés et testament, laissant nos gains et économies à ceux que nous aimons, la vieille expression juridique nous demande de répéter après lui: « Au nom de Dieu, AMEN. » Et avec nous, comme avec Gerontius dans son rêve, le dernier mot nous entendre quand les voix de terre poussent faibles et le silence de Dieu nous couvre, est l'ancienne AMEN, Mote il donc.
Comment impressionnante, elle résonne à travers le livre de la loi sacrée. Nous l'entendons dans les Psaumes, réponses de chœur à chœur, où il est parfois redoublée pour mettre l'accent. Dans les entretiens de Jésus avec ses amis, il a une utilisation frappante, cachée dans la version anglaise. La phrase maintes fois répétée: « En vérité, en vérité je vous le dis, » si à juste titre traduit signifie, AMEN, AMEN, je vous le dis. » Plus tard, dans les épîtres de Paul, le mot AMEN devient le nom du Christ, qui est l'AMEN du Dieu de la foi de l'homme.
Oui, aussi, dans la loge, à l'ouverture, à la clôture et à l'heure d'ouverture. Aucun maçon ne pénètre jamais sur toute entreprise grande ou important sans invoquer l'aide de la Déité. Et il finit sa prière avec la vieille expression, « Mote il donc. » Qui est une autre façon de dire: « La volonté de Dieu se faire. » Ou, quelle que soit la réponse de Dieu à sa prière: « ainsi soit-il - parce qu'il est sage et juste.
Ce qui, ensuite, est le sens de cette vieille expression, tellement entrelacé avec toutes nos traditions maçonniques, simple, tendre et envoûtante ? Il a deux significations pour nous dans le monde, dans l'église, ou dans la loge. Tout d'abord, c'est la sanction de l'homme à la manière et la volonté de Dieu ; avis conforme aux commandes de son ; la sanction de sa Providence, même lorsqu'un trait tendre, terrible de la mort prend chez nous un très apprécié et nous laisse triste.
Toujours, en quelque sorte, nous devons dire: « n'est ; ainsi soit-il. Il est un homme sage, un homme courageux ; qui, dérouté par les malheurs de la vie, quand la catastrophe s'ensuit rapidement et suit plus rapidement, peut néanmoins acceptent son sort dans le cadre de la volonté de Dieu et de dire, même si elle peut étouffer presque lui dire :
« Mote il donc. » Il n'est pas une soumission aveugle, ni stupide démission, mais une réconciliation sage à la volonté de l'Éternel.
L'autre signification de l'expression est encore plus merveilleuse ; C'est la sanction de Dieu à l'aspiration de l'homme. L'homme peut supporter tellement - quoi que ce soit, peut-être - s'il se sent que Dieu sait, s'inquiète et se sent pour lui et avec lui. Si Dieu dit Amen, il est donc, de notre foi et l'espérance et la charité ; Il relie notre sens perplexes et nous aide à voir, mais faiblement, ou dans un verre sombre, qu'il y a un usage sage et bon dans la vie, malgré son chagrin et de souffrance, et que nous ne sommes pas à la merci du destin ou les caprices du hasard.
Est-ce que Dieu parle à l'homme, confirmant sa foi et espérance ? Dans l'affirmative, comment ? En effet, oui ! Dieu n'est pas le grand que j'ai été, mais le grand que je suis, et il n'est ni sourd ni muet. En lui nous vivons et déplacer et avons notre être - il parle de nous dans la nature, dans la loi morale et dans nos propres coeurs, si nous avons des oreilles pour entendre. Mais il parle plus clairement dans le livre de la loi Sainte, qui se trouve ouvert sur notre Alter.
Ni est-ce tout. Certains d'entre nous soutiennent que la parole de Dieu "est devenu chair et Dwelt parmi nous, pleine de grâce et de vérité," dans une vie la plus belle jamais vécue parmi les hommes, en nous montrant ce que la vie est, de ce que cela signifie, et quelles questions fine il monte quand nous faisons la volonté de Dieu sur la terre comme cela est fait dans le ciel, aucun d'entre nous ne pousse mais mélancolique quand il pense à la vie de Jésus, pourtant loin, nous tombons en dessous.
Aujourd'hui les hommes sont posent la question : il ne fait aucun bien de prier ? L'homme qui prie en fait ne demande pas une telle question. Aussi bien demander si elle fait un oiseau tout bon pour chanter, ou une fleur à fleurir ? La prière est naturel et instinctif chez l'homme. Nous sommes faits ainsi. L'homme est fait pour la prière, étincelles ascendant cherchent le soleil. Il ne faudrait pas foi religieuse si les objets de celui-ci n'existaient pas.
Prières ne répondent jamais ? Oui, toujours, comme Emerson nous a enseigné il y a longtemps. Qui s'élève de prière, un homme meilleur, sa prière est exaucée - et c'est que nous devons aller. Le plus profond désir, le motif de la décision d'un homme, est sa prière réelle, et il façonne sa vie après sa forme et sa couleur. En ce sens toute prière est exaucée, et c'est pourquoi nous devrions faire attention ce que nous prions pour - parce qu'en fin de compte, nous obtenons toujours elle.
Quoi, alors c'est le bien de la prière ? Il nous fait repose sur l'inconnu avec espoir ; Il nous rend prêt pour la vie. C'est une reconnaissance des lois et le fil de notre collaboration avec eux. Il n'est pas le but de la prière à mendier ou de faire faire ce que nous voulons faire de Dieu. Son but est de nous amener à faire la volonté de Dieu, qui est plus grand et plus sage que de notre volonté. C'est de ne pas se servir de Dieu, mais doivent être employés par lui au service de son plan.
Homme de prière ne peut changer la volonté de Dieu ? Non et oui. Vraie prière ne souhaite ni chercher à changer la plus grande volonté de Dieu, qui implique dans son balayage et portée de l'obligation et le destin de l'humanité. Mais il peut et ne change pas la volonté de Dieu qui nous préoccupent, parce que ça change notre volonté et notre attitude envers lui, qui est la chose essentielle dans la prière pour nous.
Par exemple, si un homme vit une vie de méchante, nous savons ce que sera la volonté de Dieu pour lui. Toutes les mauvaises voies ont été souvent essayés, et nous savons ce qui est la fin, tout comme nous connaissons la réponse à un problème de géométrie. Mais si un homme qui vit méchamment change son mode de vie et de son attitude intérieure, il change la volonté de Dieu - si pas de sa volonté, au moins son Intention. Autrement dit, il a atteint ce que même la volonté Divine ne pouvait pas lui donner et faire pour lui à moins qu'il avait été effectué par sa volonté et la prière.
Le lieu de prière dans la maçonnerie n'est pas superficiel. Il n'est pas une simple question de forme et de la rote. Il est essentiel et profond. Comme un homme entre dans la loge comme un initié, la prière est offerte pour lui, à Dieu, en qui il place sa confiance. Plus tard, dans une crise de son initiation, il doit prier pour lui-même, par voie orale ou mentalement que son coeur peut choisir. Il n'est pas juste une cérémonie ; C'est fondamental dans la foi et l'esprit de la maçonnerie. Plus tard encore, dans une scène qui aucun maçon n'oublie jamais, quand l'ombre est plus sombre, et la chose la plus précieuse maçon peut désirer ou solliciter semble perdue, dans la perplexité et le désespoir de la loge, une prière est offerte. Enregistré par nos moniteurs, c'est une mosaïque de paroles de la Bible, dans lequel la sinistre réalité de la vie et la mort sont énoncés dans la dure réalité, et on fait appel à la pitié et la lumière de Dieu.
C'est vraiment une grande prière, pour rejoindre en qui consiste à placer nous-mêmes dans les mains de Dieu, que tous doivent faire en fin de compte, confiance sa volonté et la voie, suite où aucun chemin n'est dans l'obscurité douce et fascinante que les hommes appellent la mort. Et la réponse de la loge à cette prière, quant à tous les autres offerts à son autel, est l'expression ancienne, difficile, "Mote il être!"
Mon frère, n'ayez pas honte de prier, vous sont enseignées dans la loge et l'église. C'est une partie de la douceur et de la santé mentale de la vie, rafraîchissant l'âme et indiquer clairement à l'esprit. Il y a plus de sagesse dans une prière murmurée que dans toutes les bibliothèques du monde. Il n'est pas notre affaire pour demander à Dieu. Il sait ce que les choses que nous avons besoin pour avant que nous lui demandons. Il n'a pas notre prière, mais nous le faisons - si seulement nous faire connaissance avec le meilleur ami que nous avons.
Le plus grand de tous les enseignants de l'âme nous a laissé une petite liturgie appelée à la prière du Seigneur. Il nous a dit de l'utiliser chacun pour soi, dans le placard quand la porte est fermée et le din et de bourdonnement et la litière du monde est à l'extérieur. Essayez-le frère ; Il va adoucir la vie, faire sa charge plus légère, sa joie plus lumineux et la manière de devoir plus évident.
Deux prières minuscules ont flotté vers le bas pour nous d'âges agone, qui valent la peine de se souvenir ; un par un grand Saint, l'autre par deux frères. « Accorde-moi, Seigneur, ardemment au désir, sagement à étudier, à juste titre pour comprendre et parfaitement remplir qui qui veut de toi. » Et la deuxième est la manière: « mai deux frères jouissent et te servir ensemble et donc aujourd'hui que nous soyons dignes de vivre demain. »
« ALORS, MOTE IT BE"
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