From the East W.B. Jim Hewitt

Transcription

1 Jan 1, 2015 The Vision Statement Of Oasis Masonic Lodge # 52 Is That The Lodge: Is A Recognized Active Participant In The Masonic Community Fostering Fraternal Fellowship And Masonic Teachings. Supports The Local Community Through Involvement With Public Schools And Programs Addressing Community Concerns. The Mission Statement Of Oasis Masonic Lodge # 52 Is To: Preserve And Promote The Teachings Of Freemasonry. From the East W.B. Jim Hewitt F Promote Masonic Values Through Service To Mankind And Our Conduct In Life. Inspire Good Men To Seek Membership In Our Organization. Encourage The Membership To Continually irst of all I would like to thank everyone Seek The Truth. that voted It is a great privilege for me to Promote Active Fellowship With Masonic serve as your worshipful master in I will Friends And Family. make every effort to live up to your expectations and make this year a banner year for Oasis Lodge. This issue will be a little bigger than previous ones because I wanted to make up for our missing of the December issue. Sorry about that. The year did not start good for Oasis because we lost a good member in December. Bro Bob O Donoghue passed on December 8th so my first official task was attending the funeral. It was short notice so I didn t have time to get the word out, but Oasis Lodge was represented by myself and WB Paul Weathers. My second official act was a lot more pleasant, the Christmas party at the Canyon Crown Pub. It was well attended and everyone seemed to have a good time. I m planning on attending some of the Lodge installations before our next meeting so this will be our notice to any brother that wants to come with me on Sat 3rd Jerusalem Daylight (Continued on page 2)

2 Page 2 Features Page 1 Oasis Lodge Vision Statement Oasis Lodge Mission Statement Thoughts from the Worshipful Master (Continued from page 1) Lodge will be installing the officers for 2015 and on the 4th of January Builders Lodge #60 will be installing there 2015 line. Will brethren that s about it from the East. I hope you all had a Joyous Christmas and will have a Prosperous and happy New Year. Page 2 Masonic Birthdays Page 3 Upcoming Events 2015Officers 2015 Committees Page 4 From the West Being a Mason among our Masonic Family (Article) Page 5 From the South Page 6 Arizona Masonic Family Changing and Saving Children s Lives (Article) Page 8 Similarities between Freemasonry and the Mormon Church (Article) Page 10 Hiram or Huram Abiff Birthdays NatNatural Sept Berry, Alan Bibars, Maen Bonar, James Chaney, Earl Cheatle, Scott Collier, Milton Donohue, Raymond Gannon, Bob Martin, Phillip Miller, John Taylor,Sr, Willis Thourot, Frederick Webster, Dee Oct Abi-Ad, Joseph Garner, Gregory Gilliam, Charles Kidd, Mike Shrager, Robert Stalker, Harold Jr Valencia, Ernesto Nov Bonnell, Sheldon Bousquet, Phillip Gerhart, Gregory Glenn, Jacky Jager, Randal Lindquist, Alex IV Louis, Jimmy Sanchez, Julio Smith Jr, Leroy Dec Balser, Kenneth Cousineau, Roger Powlesland, Stephen Starcher, Steve Wilhite, William Wood, Rodney (Continued on page 9)

3 Page 3 Upcoming Meetings To all of you from all of us Merry Christmas & Happy New Year COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN Ritual Director Mason Of The Year WB Paul Assigned by Lodge Master Masonic Education Long Range Plans WB Tim Yaser WB Jerry Badinger Jan 2015 Candidates, Coaches, and Mentors WM Mike Bravin Widows / Welfare / Assistance WB Paul Weathers 06 Jan 7:00 PM Degree Practice 13 Jan 7:00 PM Stated Meeting 20 Jan 7:00 PM Degree Practice 27 Jan 3:00PM til 6:00 PM Blood Drive Annual Veterans Day Poker Run Bro Ray Donohue Spring Masonic Family and Friends Event WB Randy Jager Youth Groups WB Dean Millard Dues & Relief WB Jerry Badinger OFFICERS for 2015 WM WB Jim Hewitt, , JLHewittSr@cox.net SW WB Frank Rice, , FRice@microsoft com Sec. WB Timothy Yaiser, TYaiser@cox.net Treas. WB Randy Jager, Randy@thejagers.com JD WB Wil Taylor Sr SD Bro Julio Sanchez, Chaplain WB Dan Tulloh, , DWTulloh61@cox.net SS Bro Dee Webster, JS Jon Henke, (520) , jon.a.henke@gmail.com Marshal Bro Dan Brys, , danjbrys@msn.com Tyler WB Paul Weathers, , pwabble@cox.net Trustees: 3 year WB Mike Bravin, 2 year Bro Robert Shrager, 1year WB Roger Cousineau, Public Schools WB Roger Cousineau Masonic Communications WB Dean Millard Fall Masonic Family and Friends Night WB Jim Hewitt Membership Committee WB Jerry Badinger Trestle Board Editor WB Jim Hewitt jlhewittsr@cox.net WEB Master WB Frank Rice Masonic Communications WB Dean Millard Public Relations WB Bruce McLaughlin SICKNESS and DISTRESS If you or your loved ones are stricken with an illness or distress or any other major concern, don t keep it inside, let us know about it. We may be limited in many cases to remembering you in our prayers. But I believe that the majority of us believe in the power of prayer so please let us be informed of your troubled times. Call WB Paul Weathers at (520) or Brother Ray Donohue at (520)

4 Page 4 From The West WB Frank Rice Senior Warden reetings from the West! It looks like we are going to have a busy year. I appreciate your confidence in G me by electing me to serve as your Senior Warden for the upcoming year. I hope that you had a wonderful holiday. In this trestle board I would like to talk about Presidential Master Masons and a few of the falsehoods you may have heard concerning non-masonic Presidents. The following Presidents have been verified as having been Master Masons: George Washington James Monroe Andrew Jackson James Polk James Buchanan William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt Howard Taft Warren Harding Franklin Roosevelt (Continued on page 8) BEING A MASON AMONG OUR MASONIC FAMILY By W. B. Paul Weathers M any good men from all walks of life have had a desire to be made a Mason and they have the notion that we can and will achieve this goal for them. But this we cannot do? But before you get your dander all bundled into a wad, back up and allow me to explain this statement. Oh yes, we can go through the processes to accept a good man into our beloved fraternity and we can confer upon him the three foundation degrees by which he becomes a member and the dues card will provide the indication that he is a Mason, at least by affiliation. However, his being made into a true Mason isn t our responsibility; it s all up to him as an individual to achieve this goal for himself. How, you might ask, is he supposed to know how to accomplish this epic conversion? Well that s where we must come into play, by first educating ourselves as to how we made our own self a Mason. Then and only then can we start to guide him in his efforts to make himself a Mason. We must assist him in his searching and determining what the lessons mean to us as individuals. all of which are to be found within the ritual wording and the reasoning for some specific movements in the floor work; and what those lessons just might mean to us. Each one of us must solicit the wisdom of the well seasoned mentors for which to start formulating our individual paths toward those goals with which to become a Mason. We need to compare their understandings in comparison to our mental concepts of how to apply the lessons being learned to a new life for us in Masonry. He must obtain satisfactory understanding of each lesson before moving on. Search out those lessons that tend to be hidden within the ritual wording and reasoning behind the floor work during the degree conferrals. And most importantly we must determine whether our sense of integrity and character is compatible with the lessons we re finding. Does our daily life need to be redirected and redefined in order to make us stand out as (Continued on page 5)

5 From The South Bro Dave Promenschenkel Jr. Warden Page 5 My personal journey back to Freemasonry F irst of all I would like to thank everyone for their confidence and faith you have in me by electing me as Junior Warden for I hope to live up to every ones expectations, especially my own. A lot of you do not know me, but some of you do, for the ones that don t, here is my journey back to Masonry. My wife Betty and I first moved to Tucson in 1989 to be near her folks as their health was declining. My father in law Bob Ross was really involved heavily in Sabbar Shrine and asked me to go with him on several occasions. I really enjoyed the camaraderie and fellowship of all the Shriners and their clubs and groups. After a few years I finally asked him how I could become a Shriner. His answer was that I would first have to become a Mason, so I asked him how to go about that task. Needless to say I went through the degrees, I had a fantastic coach in Lorne Niece, and if I m not mistaken it was a little less than a year that I was finished with the degrees and proficiencies. A few weeks after being raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason I was in the Marshalls chair in line and over the next 3 or 4 years advanced to Senior Deacon. I was soaking up the work like that proverbial sponge, I had opened, closed and conferred in all 3 degrees, learned all the charges as well as the Apron lecture, the G lecture etc. I hope it all comes back to me and stays in my brain until it is time to come out during degree work, on top of that I know I must now learn a lecture, so I better get started. Just as I was about to go to the South, Betty and I were transferred to Mesa, AZ to manage one of the companies properties there. We lost both of Betty s parents in 1998 and at that time we moved back to Illinois to be nearer the kids and grand kids. I first went back into the restaurant business as manager and chef at a Marina on the Illinois river. That got to be too much of a pain, so I went back to the old fallback as a truck driver and that is what I did until I retired in May of During this time I didn t have much time free to attend Lodge, but I went to the local Lodges a few times. I was met with a lot of skepticism and didn t feel really comfortable, I don t know if it was because I wasn t a member there or as one Brother put it, you are F&AM and we are AF&AM, and you won t understand our (Continued on page 9) (Continued from page 4) someone of a higher standard, a good man? This is essential if we re to shine as a beacon to guide other good men to the portals of this Ancient Symbolic Craft. Some of us are able to accomplish this fairly quickly, for others it takes years, but sadly there are many who pay their annual dues, wear the Masonic emblems and carry a stack of their membership dues cards, yet they never learned how to truly be a Mason. But I believe that if we can bring them to realizations and provide them with proper guidance they can still learn how to achieve their goals of becoming a Mason, in its truest sense of the word. Learning how to understand the three foundation degrees of Masonry and become a Mason at heart takes a lot of patience, perseverance and time. Each of us needs to make time for the learning processes in these degrees before we plunge into the Rites and Masonic affiliated bodies. The Scottish and York Rites are designed to continue our Masonic enlightenment beyond the three Blue Lodge Degrees. A better understanding of the three basic degrees will help us in our efforts to understand the lessons conveyed in the degrees within the Rites. (Continued on page 7)

6 Page 6 ARIZONA MASONIC FAMILY CHANGING AND SAVING CHILDREN S LIVES! Jerry Badinger President Arizona Masonic Foundation for Children A Child At Risk Will Remain At Risk Until Someone Intervenes. As you already may know, the Arizona Masonic Foundation for Children (AMFC) is intervening with its Children at Risk Program by working directly with educators (the administrators, teachers, nurses, counselors, and other school staff members) who see our children every day, to create a Student Assistance Program Team within their individual schools. This intense, professional 3-day training is an intensive workshop for educators to learn how to identify, intervene with, and create appropriate referrals for students that may be at risk for substance abuse, depression, suicide, or violence. This workshop trains a Core Team of four to eight educators from a school building in how to intervene early and effectively with students that display patterns of behaviors that threaten their success at school and in life. During tough economic times children become more involved in high risk behavior but, with your financial help and support, your Foundation has continued to do these trainings since October What you may not know is that Sun City Lodge #72 intervened, June 9 12, 2014 by donating their wonderful facility so that the Foundation could take advantage of the Safe and Supportive Schools Federal Grant to conduct one of our Workshops for educators, schools and districts selected by the Grant Administrators out of the University of Arizona We had 51 educators in attendance, with 12 schools in 7 different School Districts and please remember that by all the National statistics we know of on our program this represents, at a minimum, reaching out and intervening in the lives of over 300 children who are currently at risk and changing their lives in a positive manner. Most likely the actual number is over 400 at risk children WB Roger Cousineau, Bro Bob Shrager (Oasis #52), Susan Shrager, and WB Vince Santos (Tucson #4) be proud of your efforts, you deserve it!!! Together, we are teaching our Educator partners about the benevolent nature of Masons and the Masonic Family of Arizona. Today more than ever, our children s need our help in becoming responsible adults as they face countless challenges broken homes, patterns of substance abuse and incarceration in families, a complex world with many traditional nurturing institutions shaken, and support by Masons, their Grand Lodge and their Masonic Family in the battle is direct evidence that we are ready to live these Masonic principles in our daily lives. Remember, our Children at Risk program, like few others, gives an extraordinary positive face to freemasonry (Continued on page 7)

7 Page 7 (Continued from page 6) statewide and nationally. DONATIONS We extend a very grateful thank you to all who have supported us over the past 17 years. Remember we are a 501.C.3 and your donation is tax deductable. Make your check payable to Arizona Masonic Foundation for Children or AMFC and Mail to P.O. Box Tucson, Arizona You may also use Pay Pal at our website if you desire. AMAZON SMILE If you shop on Amazon.com they have a mirror image website to called AmazonSmile at both of which function exactly alike except, when first visiting AmazonSmile, customers are prompted to select a charitable organization from almost one million eligible organizations. In order to browse or shop at AmazonSmile, customers must first select a charitable organization. For eligible purchases at AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to the customer s selected charitable organization. Simply select the Arizona Masonic Foundation for Children or got to to automatically select the foundation. Once you do that, simply go out to for all you purchases and even if you forget and go to the regular site it will prompt you to go to AmazonSmile to make your purchase and benefit the Arizona Masonic Foundation for Children. Easy! Peasy! (Continued from page 5) But we need to always remember those words we heard in the Blue Lodge; Masonry is taught by degrees only. It makes good sense to just slow down enough to learn the lessons by degrees rather that in leaps and bounds. That is if we desire to really be a well informed and effective Mason. And by these efforts we can become recognized as being a true Mason, all based on our knowledge and respectable demeanor. But when we have over burdened ourselves with more organizations than we can keep up with, we will most likely not be able to do justice to any of them. Therefore we must determine our limits and practice the usages of that small but most powerful word NO when its use is proper for our well being as well as for those affiliations. I don t see our fraternity as being a contest for counting the number of membership cards. But I do see it as a self improvement goal. Yet I must respect those very few good brothers who have the means and abilities to absorb the intended lessons in the numerous Masonic bodies and the many affiliated organizations and to serve them well. Oh well! I ll now get off my soap box and do a count of the membership cards I ve accumulated over these last 52 plus years as a Mason. But what the heck, they all need my money to support the many worthy Masonic charities. So mote it be.

8 Page 8 Similarities between Freemasonry and the Mormon Church By WB Frank Rice M ormon temple worship shares a commonality of symbols, signs, vocabulary and clothing with Freemasonry, including robes, aprons, handshakes, ritualistic raising of the arms although the meanings of each are quite different for the Freemasons and the Mormons. Based on revelation given from the Lord to Brigham Young, these symbols are used in Mormon temple worship. For example, whereas Masons exchange secret handshakes to identify fellow Freemasons, Mormonism teaches that these handshakes must be given to sentinel angels in order for all who have been baptised, by one having the priesthood authority to do so, to receive exaltation [the action of elevating someone in rank, power, or character] and receive Celestial Glory. Mormon temple garments also bear the Masonic symbols of the Square and Compass. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints believe that the Lord has given these symbols to represent sacred (not secret) meanings that are received only by worthy members of the church. In the "Temple and Salvation for the Dead" part of Discourses of Brigham Young, Brigham Young gives a quote about the temple which some believe relates to the story of Hiram Abiff from Masonic history. However, Young changed some of the key masonic aspects based on revelation given to him by the Lord to follow the Heavenly Father's plans for temples. It is also true that one of the high priests [Hiram Abiff] was murdered by wicked and corrupt men, who were already starting to apostatize [renounce a religious belief], because he would not reveal those things appertaining to the priesthood that were forbidden him to reveal until he came to the proper place. [Excerpt taken for the wikipedia article on Masonic ritual and symbolism] As an aside, in the 1840s, Mormon founder Joseph Smith, Jr. and several prominent Mormons became Freemasons and founded a lodge in Nauvoo, Illinois. (Continued from page 4) Andrew Johnson James Garfield Harry Truman Gerald Ford However, there are some misconceptions regarding other Presidents. For example, Abraham Lincoln was not a Freemason. He did apply for membership in Tyrian Lodge, Springfield, Ill., shortly after his nomination for the presidency in 1860 but withdrew the application because he felt that his applying for membership at that time might be construed as a political ruse to obtain votes. He advised the lodge that he would resubmit his application again when he returned from the presidency. Lincoln never returned. On the death of the president, Tyrian Lodge adopted, on April 17, 1865, a resolution to say "that the decision of President Lincoln to postpone his application for the honors of Freemasonry, lest his motives be misconstrued, is the highest degree honorable to his memory." Lyndon Johnson received his first degree on October 30, After receiving the degree he found that his congressional duties (elected in 1937) took so much time he was unable to pursue the masonic degrees. Ronald Reagan has often been referred to as a Freemason. President Reagan was not a Freemason although he was an honorary member of the Imperial Council of the Shrine. President Reagan had on numerous occasions been involved in Shrine and masonic functions throughout his career. The confusion as to his member- (Continued on page 9)

9 (Continued from page 8) Page Page 9 ship arises from a ceremony held in the Oval Office of the White House on February 11th, 1988, when a group of Freemasons presented President Reagan with a certificate of honor from the Grand Lodge of Washington, D.C., then he was made a Honorary Scottish Rite mason. The title of Freemason can only be conferred by a Grand Lodge of (Ancient) Free and Accepted Masons. In Reagan's case this was not done, probably because the ceremonies would have taken a full day to confer and the president's time was limited; therefore, President Reagan should only be referred to as a Shriner or Scottish Rite mason. The Shrine and Scottish Rite are concordant bodies and cannot confer the title Freemason on any person. George H. W. Bush has also on numerous occasions been referred to as a Freemason. The confusion as to President Bush being a member arises from the swearing in ceremonies at his inauguration. President Bush took his oath of office on the George Washington Bible which belongs to St. Johns Lodge in New York City. Because the Bible belonged to a Masonic Lodge many writers assumed he was a Freemason. The Bible was used at the request of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies This Bible was first used on April 30, 1789, by the Grand Master of the Masons in New York, to administer the oath of office to George Washington, the first president. Other presidents who took their oath of office with this Bible are Warren G. Harding, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Jimmy Carter. Well, that's it for this trestle board. I hope that you found this interesting. Let's all work together to make this a prosperous and fruitful year. (Continued from page 2) Masonic Sept Benavides, Tony Bibars, Maen Garner, Gregory Lindquist, Alex IV Miller, John Mysak, Terrance Oct Bravin, Mike Hickman, Carl Sanchez, Julio Webster, Dee Nov Berry, Alan Carter, James Chaney, Earl Chuk, Stevan Franklin, George Garber, Richard Hines, Steven King, Robert Louis, Jimmy McLaughlin, Bruce Neulreich, Robert Parsley Jr, Paul Taylor, Richard Taylor,Sr, Willis Weathers, Paul Dec Bousquet, Phillip Cousineau, Roger Hewitt, James Rice, Frank Stoff, Jesse (Continued from page 5) work. I never did understand what he meant, the work is basically the same, a few wording differences, but I really didn t feel comfortable while visiting while back home. In late July and the first part of August of 2014 Betty and I went on vacation for the first time in 15 years. We went to San Diego to visit her uncle and then stopped in Tucson to visit some friends. The first thing out of Betty s mouth was I want to move back here. So at the end of September we moved back to Tucson, I didn t go to Lodge the first week we were back. But after that I haven t missed a meeting. I enjoy the Friendship and Brotherly Love of all of you and hope to be around to enjoy it for many years to come. I hope that all of you who know me and haven t been to lodge for a while will come back to visit and be with us as we all continue our journey in Masonry. I guarantee you that you will not leave the lodge hungry in either body of soul, most of you will have to watch out over the next year that you don t eat too much of what I serve for dinner or you might not fit in your clothes by the end of the year. In Brotherly Love Dave Promenschenkel

10 Hiram or Huram Abiff Submitted by WB Paul Weathers Page 10 This is based on partial extractions from Chapter VI of Bro. Dudley Wright s book titled MASONIC LEG- ENDS AND TRADITIONS, which was published in 1921 by William Rider & Sons, LTD in London. I t appears that there are more legends than there are facts about Hiram, a widow s son from Tyre, generally known as Hiram Abiff. In the Dictionary of the Bible by Calmet, says that the word Hiram signifies high intelligence and he said that Hiram was referred to as Father by both, the King of Tyre and King Solomon, because he was the Principal Master over the workmen and the director of their duties. And if this is factual, Hiram Abiff and Hiram his Father would have been one and the same. However, Hiram couldn t have been the father of David, King of Tyre. And it s established that there was actually a father of Hiram the architect who was of the same name, Hiram Abiff, and his son was given the same name. And by my research it appears that the father was the architect of Solomon s until his tragic death, and it was then that the son finished the work in and on the Temple. It s an interesting fact that Khuram or Huram identified with the Egyptian names Herra, Hermes or Hercules, and that the word Abi or Abiff was a surname, but it was also given by close friends and associates to the respected Hebrew men of high honor, dignity and integrity. More about Hiram Abiff can be found in 1 Kings, verses 13 through 45 and II Chronicles, chapter 2, verses 11 through 14. In those passages Hiram is said to be the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and another claim says that he was the son of a woman, one of the daughters of Dan. But this is an improbable depiction, because a woman during those times weren t allowed to belong to two tribes. The Brother and Reverend Morris Rosenbaum said, We must conclude that two different men bearing the same name, Hiram, are spoken of one whose mother was of the tribe of Dan, another whose mother was of Naphtali. This conclusion is strengthened by the fact that, according to the two versions; the two named Hiram and mentioned here were engaged in different work. In Chronicles, one Hiram is stated to have been a worker in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, in timber, in purple, in blue, and in crimson and in fine linen. He was also able to grave any manner of graving, and to work with every device. In Kings, Hiram is called a worker in brass and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and cunning abilities to work at all works of brass. The other is an all around workman, also skilled in stone and timber consequently, a builder, an engraver, and a master of many devices, an architect. This would also lead us to believe that there were two men bearing the same name. But wasn t it recorded that there was a father and a son by the same name? It appears that Hiram was a fairly common name during those times. The story that is so familiar to us Freemasons is that Master Hiram Abiff was slain before the temple was completed but, if only one Hiram is referred to in the Old Testament, this story is lacking in corroboration in that narrative or by Josephus. I kings, chapter 2. Verse 40 says, So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he could do for King Solomon, and for the house of the Lord. And in II Chronicles we read: And Huram finished the work that he was to make for King Solomon, for the house of God. However, Masonic tradition asserts that Master Hiram was murdered within the precincts of the Temple prior to the completion of the Temple. It was the duty of Hiram Abiff to supervise the work. Reports were examined by him with precise exactness. It was his custom to offer up prayers when the sun arose in the east, before the commencement of work, at high twelve, and at the close of the day when the days work was completed, and when the sun sat in the west and the workmen had left the Temple to give thank to the Eternal God for the safe protection for that day. For

11 Page 11 the first six years it was his custom to go into the secret recesses of the lodge for prayer, but in the seventh year his prayers were given in the precincts of the Holy of Holies. On the day appointed to celebrate the capstone, Master Hiram retired as usual at the meridian hour, and from a casual walk about the Temple grounds he never returned alive. By one traditional story, the remains of Master Hiram weren t located until after the Temple was completed. Yet in another version of the legend as commonly accepted by us Freemasons, his body was found and interned to its long home before the Temple was completed. On uncovering the shallow grave his Jewel was found on the body. This Jewel is said to have been the Square and Compasses with the letter G between the Compasses and above the Square. Another version of the legend that is known, says that his Jewel was the 47 th proposition of the First Book of Euclid. King Solomon gave strict orders to Grand Inspector Adoniram, that the funeral obsequies should be as pompous and magnificent as for the King himself. He also ordered that all the Brethren should attend the solemn ceremonies wearing white aprons and white gloves. Various other depictions of this age old story are still to be found in some of the old and now rare scripts. But the intended lesson for us Masons is intended to instill in our hearts and minds to believe in a life after death. Bro. and Rev. Morris Rosenbaum surmised that the two men named Hiram were actually father and son. And that with sadness still affecting King Solomon and needing the Temple to be completed, he sent a messenger to fetch Hiram, the son to finish his fathers work. This seems to verify that the Temple was not completed when Hiram the father was murdered. Brother and Reverend George Oliver explained for us the following; pertaining to the dedication monument near the Holy of Holies; A virgin weeping over a broken column, with a book open before her; in her right hand a sprig of acacia, in her left hand an urn; father time standing behind her with his hands unfolding the ringlets of her hair. The weeping virgin denotes the unfinished state of the Temple, the broken column; that one of the principal supporters of Masonry (Hiram Abiff) had fallen; the open book implies that his memory is recorded in every Freemason s heart; the sprig of acacia refers to the recovery of his remains; the urn shows that his ashes have been carefully collected and honorably interned; and Father Time standing behind her implies that time, patience and perseverance will accomplish all things. Now for a closing, this is an interesting story about Hiram Abiff. In this accounting it is said to have idolatrous worship of Tyre called for the rite of human sacrifices. A Masonic tradition says. To such an extent were these sacrifices often carried that when the Canaanites and Phoenicians were desirous to avert any great calamity, such persons had no children, but purchased them from the poor for that purpose. Sometimes they were cast into a furnace of fire; at other times into a hollow statue of Moloch which was considered to be the God of the Ammonites, which was roaring with burning fire. Hiram biff was able to get much of this law repealed, making it a penalty to purchase children for the purpose of sacrifice. It s no wonder that the name Hiram Abiff is so revered by us Masons.

12 Page 12 The cost is only $125 / Year and it can be prorated. Contact our treasurer, WB Randy Jager for more details. Oasis Masonic Lodge #52, F&AM 450 N, Pantano Rd. Tucson, AZ