I once knew a man who owned a pizza restaurant not far from where I used to live. He always used to say,"God knows what God's doin." Sylvio had a simple tooth ache which later evolved into numerous tests that uncovered cancer of the jawbone. No matter what he went through, he would always repeat the same phrase," God knows what God's doin." Eventually the numerous surgeries left his face so deformed that he was unrecognizable as the man I once knew. When I last saw him, he could not speak as his face had become so swollen and disfigured. He waved to me and pointed with one finger toward the heavens, and I knew exactly what he meant.

My brothers, as upright men and Masons we have a spiritual obligation to uphold. We need only remember the words we spoke, and the advice that was given to us to bring Light to our path on a daily basis. We are not alone in our quest. We have each other. We have the Brotherhood. And, we have an obligation to ourselves to help those if found worthy. Rudyard Kipling wrote in My New-cut Ashlar:

"Help me to need no help from men,
That I may help such men as need."

I conclude my message with an excerpt of another of Kipling's classic poems, If:

"If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!"

May you and yours be blessed as much as you are able to receive it.

Cordially and fraternally,
W.'.M.'.Jonathan Patrick
drjonapatrick@comcast.net

GLAD TIDINGS:

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