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THE LETTER OF THE Master of the Lodge

 

INITIUM

 

Dearest Brother,
our lodge is experiencing a happy moment of initiations, so I take the opportunity to share some thoughts about it.
As Oswald Wirth wrote:
“Masonic rites have no sacramental virtue. The Profane who has been received as a Freemason according to traditional forms has not acquired the qualities which distinguish the enlightened thinker from the dull and uncouth man. The reception ceremonial has value only as the staging of a program that the Neophyte must follow in order to gain possession of all his faculties." (1)
Not everyone will agree with this author: according to many, in fact, Initiation brings with it a real ontological change, something similar to what would happen, for example, with priestly ordination according to Catholic doctrine:
“The sacrament of Holy Orders also confers an indelible spiritual character and cannot be repeated or conferred for a limited time.” (2)
It is a complex and perhaps insoluble question: here we can approach the theme from a psychological point of view. If you ask ten Masons what Initiation was for them, you will surely get ten different answers: if in fact the ritual is in fact the same for everyone, the inner situation of each candidate is unique, and it is this starting condition that makes the difference. In this sense, I think we can say that the ritual changed something in each brother who took part in it, but that this change is obviously personal and different in each one.
Initiation comes from initium, i.e. in-ire, "to go inside". Inside yourself, first of all! And what is found is precisely peculiar to each one, and it is this peculiarity that makes the effect of Initiation truly unique.
This peculiarity also has repercussions in the relationship with the other brothers: in fact, in Freemasonry there is no figure of the guru, of the "spiritual father", of the "master" in the sense of an enlightened person who gives teachings to the group in an institutional way. Yet each of us will have happened, or will happen, to meet a brother who, regardless of rank and rank, will end up directly or indirectly teaching us something valuable, more than the others. This happens precisely by virtue of this different initium for each one, which initiates a personal journey, also unique, and which constitutes one of the most distinctive aspects of Freemasonry.

See you soon!

 

S&F

W.M. M.B. Master of Lodge

 

1 O.Wirth, La Massoneria resa comprensibile ai suoi adepti, Vol I, Roma, Atanor 1985, pag. 106 

2 Catechismo della Chiesa Cattolica, par. 1582