Brought to Light Masonic Podcast, Ep 31. Brothers in Freemasonry
Episode 31 of the Brought to Light Masonic Podcast has a great piece of insight given by Fellowcraft Brother Paul Aquilina. In a very entertaining and funny exchange he described how his brother Jack (President of the BLSC & the Podcast’s foundation host) joined the Freemasons saying “...
"....it was actually funny, because Jack was really conservative about telling anyone, he didn’t even tell me, because all I saw was Jack walking in, getting dressed, grabbing his briefcase and off he went. He didn’t tell me where he went, didn’t tell me what he did, so I thought, that’s a cult, we’ve lost him, we’ve lost Jack. ..one day he won’t come back, but nah, he always did and he always had a big smile on his face, which is why led me to ask, “what is it, what are you doing?” And then he said “Freemasonry”. I nearly jumped off a building. I didn’t know. I didn’t know at all, I’d heard so many terrible things on the internet about the one-eyed-cyclops-jumping-through-buildings (all laughing).. sent by the Freemason leaders... "
Bro Paul speaks of how he was warmly welcomed, but before joining he did some research;
“So I went to the Grand Lodge website and I had a look about what it was actually about and OMG, its good, but what do they want?, what is it really about and I kept looking for what they want?, what they want??..what they want???.. and I kept finding “Good Men”, they want “Good Men” and I am thinking; where’s the catch? So when you join a soccer club, they want you to play soccer, and they want you to be good at it, when you join a chess club, same thing, good at chess, when you join a band, you gotta be able to play an instrument, you have to be the best at it. But when you join Freemasonry, you just gotta be the best you can be at whatever you do, where ever you do it, and that blew my mind.
I thought I need to met the people,... maybe there is some crazy upper class one-percenters that I am not allowed to be around, and Jack said alright, come to a blue lounge event, and I thought what’s that, and Jack said just come, so I thought I would ignore the fact you said “Blue Lounge” and I will come... and I rocked up and there was a group of young blokes, drinking beer, having chats from all walks of life,.... and these were all different groups of different people from different places and different jobs, and I could not get my head around it. I still could not understand the real connection and the further I got into it, the more I spoke to these people, I realised they were all good people. That’s when I decided, yep, I am going to do this, I am going to do this, this is cool, I want to be part of it. “
I always find the Brought to Light podcast entertaining and informative, but without doubt, my favourite and most memorable recent speaker was Bro Paul and his statement about “looking for the catch” and how “when you join Freemasonry, you just gotta be the best you can be at whatever you do, wherever you do it, and that blew my mind.”
Bro Paul’s statement might have been an observation, but it’s actually great Masonic advice; be the best you can be at whatever you do, wherever you do it. Or in a more formal Masonic way;
Pure as that badge thy life may be;
If thou but to thine inmost self be true;
And, like the Master, give thy best work
To all thy hand should find to do.
You can access the podcast via this link http://podcast.blueloungesc.com/
It's always worth a listen !
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