Emessay Notes December 2006

A Day Of Thanksgiving

We are traveling East, my Brother,
Whenever, in gratefulness,
We think of the things that every day brings
Our lives and our homes to bless.
We are finding the Path, my Brother,
Though frugal may be our feast,
If the good that we knew is the good that we do—
Ah, then we are traveling East.

We are learning the Work, my Brother,
Whenever, with kindly aim,
We lighten the care and our plenty we share
With the poor and the halt and lame.
We are speaking the Word, my Brother,
And finding our joys increased,
When we can bring cheer to replace a child’s tear—
Ah, then we are traveling East.

We are bringing the Light, my Brother,
Whenever we greet a friend,
Whenever we lift a poor soul gone adrift,
Or one in distress defend.
We are marking the Way, my Brother,
When through us has sorrow ceased,
When something we’ve said to a lone heart has sped—
Ah, then we are traveling East.

We are traveling East, my Brother,
Whenever, in thankful mood,
We pause for a day to think and to pray,
To set forth our gratitude.
The Word, the Work, my Brother,
Through ages have never ceased—
With the Word that is true and the Word that we can do,
Ah, then we are traveling East.

Wilbur D. Nesbit

(Source: A Treasury of Masonic Thought, edited by Carl Glick)

 

May You Have The Happiest Holiday Season Ever!

 

Green Envelope Appeal

            To all who have sent a gift supporting the Green Envelope Appeal - Thank You! To read the many notes and letters that accompany donations is one of the most rewarding experiences one can ever have. Masons, lodges, youth groups, widows – all send contributions and just as importantly their love, care and concern for our Veterans.

            Many Veterans have no family or friends to care about them and our MSA Hospital Visitors become their “family.”

Thank you for caring!

Holiday Dress

            Depicted on the cover of this issue of The Voice of Freemasonry is a section of Arlington National Cemetery as it appeared during the 2005 holiday season. Some 5,000 graves were adorned by wreaths donated by the Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine. The owner of this firm, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the wreaths, but also assumes responsibility for trucking them to the cemetery, where thy are placed on the graves by volunteers. Worcester has been doing this, the editor is informed, since 1992.

            Arlington National Cemetery, a prominent landmark in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, was established during the Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Robert E. Lee’s wife, Mary Anna Custis Lee, a descendant of Martha Washington. Veterans of all of the nation’s wars are interred in the cemetery, from the American Revolution through the military actions now taking place in Afghanistan and Iraq. The pre-Civil War dead were re-interred after 1900.

            This cemetery is the resting place of many notable Americans, including President John F. Kennedy; his brother, Senator Robert Kennedy; and a host of government servants, military and civil. It is probably best known for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which stands atop a hill overlooking Washington, D.C. There an unknown from World War I, World War II, and the Korean War rest in peace. Not far from the tomb, in an adjacent section of the cemetery, many other unknowns, primarily from the Civil War era, are buried.

(Source: The Voice of Freemasonry – Grand Lodge of DC – Vol. 23 #4 2006)

(MSA regrets not being able to reproduce the cover showing rows of headstones beautifully adorned with green wreaths and red bows. A truly spectacular sight paying tribute to our honored fallen comrades.)