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Official Toast to the Grand Lodge of Scotland
Delivered by the Grand Master, Most Worshipful Brother Charbel T. Fahed, on the occasion of the Feast of St Andrew on November 28, 2019
BY CHARBEL T. FAHED, GRAND MASTER OF MASONS, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Most Worshipful Grand Master Mason, Brother McGhee, and Brethren of the Grand Lodge of Scotland,
It is my honor to present to you this most illustrious toast to the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
This year marks the 270th Anniversary of the birth of Brother Robert Burns, recognized internationally as an icon for Scotland’s creative and literary tradition and revered among Freemasons worldwide.
How can we in America ever forget Burns’ patriotic piece Ode to Liberty and An Ode for General Washington’s Birthday?
No Spartan tu be, no Attic shell, No Lyre Aeolian I awake; ‘Tis Liberty’s bold note I swell, Thy harp, Columbia, let me take!
The “Columbia” which Brother Burns references is the goddess of America and stands for the new Wisdom in the new world. It is for that reason that our Nation’s Capital is called Washington, D.C. – District of Columbia – in reference to the place where the new Wisdom in Human Governance shall reside.
At the entrance of our National Archives in Washington, D.C., one finds immortalized in marble the words “The Past is a Prologue.” “Whence came we” as Freemasons is of paramount importance. It is for this reason that, as Grand Master of Masons of Washington, D.C., I chose the triple “E” as my motto for this past year standing for Education, Ethics, and Empathy and are thus explained.
Masonic Education is the number one requirement without which a Freemason cannot truly improve himself. The deeper meanings of the symbols, tools and ceremonies of our Noble Craft help us better understand whence we came and how to build our individual inner temples so we may be better enabled to build better communities, better nations, and a better world.
Masonic Ethics teaches us to walk uprightly in our various stations in life, always squaring our actions towards one another and towards mankind, for without this Masonic conduct, true Justice cannot be pursued in our respective societies. Finally, Empathy is a manifestation of divine Brotherly Love which distinguishes us as Masons and without which true Natural Justice cannot be realized.
The commitment to the pursuit of Masonic gnosis through the application of the triple “E” enables the Freemason to achieve his destiny and helps us all safeguard our inner temples and our physical Lodges against the poisonous ways of the profane. Then, and only then, can we truly build the Sacred Band of Brothers!
My Brethren of Scotland, my presence here amongst you is to affirm the renewal of the sacred fraternal bonds that have connected our two Grand Lodges since the birth of the United States of America. How can we in America ever forget the unique contribution of your Grand Lodge as you sent us stone Masons who were Freemasons to help our country’s founders build the people’s mansion we call she White House? This renewal has yet unique significance to me personally. As some of you may know, I am a proud American and a son of Lebanon, the Land of the Cedars which gave us two of the three original patrons of our Order, Hiram King of Tyre and Grand Master Hiram Abiff. Once again, we find that it is was the Grand Lodge of Scotland which honored the land of Lebanon by bringing to its modern shores the Light of Freemasonry nearly a century ago!
Over the past decade, Brethren of Lodges under the Grand Lodge of Scotland and those of Lodges under the Grand Lodge of Washington, D.C., have exemplified the spirit of fraternal cooperation in expanding the presence of Freemasonry in Lebanon. Masonic Education teaches us that our mission as Freemasons is not to be better than one another, but rather to be better than ourselves by competing with the inner self and not with others! Working together in a spirit of fraternal solidarity for the greater good of our Noble Society should always be our guiding principle.
Thus, it was a great pleasure and an honor for us to host in Washington, D.C., this past December the Most Worshipful Grand Master Mason, Brother Ramsay McGhee, the Right Worshipful Grand Secretary, Brother J. Euan Edment, the Right Worshipful District Grand Master of Lebanon, Brother Rabih Jamakani, and the Worshipful District Grand Secretary of Lebanon, Brother Mau
