Point Loma Masonic Lodge

09/07/2026

For many, Masonry went dark in June.

But now it's September, and the summons are arriving, and everyone is filing back in as though the summer was a long weekend.

But three months is a long time....

Long enough for a habit to soften.

For the ritual you knew cold to develop gaps you'll discover mid-delivery.

But nobody ever says this out loud when returning...

The Lodge resumes, the gavel falls, and the presumption is that everyone picks up exactly where they left off.

And most good men simply go along with that.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

(It's easier than admitting the summer recess affected the practice).

But if you're honest about it,...

Actually returning,

getting the mind back into it,

and picking up the thread that was set down in June

is harder than it sounds.

Many drift back gradually over the autumn months...

Warming up till around November, when they start to feel like themselves again in Lodge.

But the thread is still there...

It just needs something to pull it with.

Philosophy. History. Conduct. Foundations.

Something to sit with before Thursday's meeting.

www.PointLomaMasonicLodge.com

Freemasonry (or Masonry) is the oldest fraternal organization in the world. Though its origins can be traced to the stonemasons and cathedral builders of Medieval times, Freemasonry remains a vital force in the daily lives of millions of men across the globe.

09/06/2026

08/30/2026

Most men hear the word temperance and think it means

Giving something up.

A man who doesn't drink.

A man who abstains.

A man who removes the thing entirely rather than deal with it.

But that's not temperance, that's abstinence...

And there's nothing wrong with abstinence.

But temperance is something else entirely...

Temperance is the man who drinks and knows when to stop.

Who works hard and knows when to rest.

Who speaks his mind and knows when silence serves better.

Who pursues what he wants without letting the pursuit consume him.

It's not the removal of appetite. It's the governance of it.

And that distinction matters more than most realize because abstinence is actually the easier path...

Remove the thing and the decision is made.

There's nothing left to manage. Nothing left to resist. Nothing left to exercise judgment over....

But temperance keeps the option and develops judgment - that's harder.

It requires a man to face the thing, want it, and decide deliberately how much of it belongs in his life.

Not once, but every single day...

And every time the opportunity presents itself.

Freemasonry chose temperance as one of its four cardinal virtues not as a call to restriction but as a call to governance.

To the kind of self-mastery that doesn't need to remove options because it has learned to handle them.

A man who can only behave well when temptation has been removed hasn't developed virtue. He's developed avoidance.

The man Freemasonry is trying to produce is the one who remains steady when the option is right in front of him.

That's the work. And it never really finishes.

But what do you think?

www.PointLomaMasonicLodge.com

08/18/2026

Most men feel it the moment they're raised....

A quiet sense of arrival.

The degrees are done.

The obligation is taken.

The grip is learned.

And somewhere in the back of the mind, a door closes.

Not dramatically. Just gently.

The way a chapter ends...

And then life moves on. Lodge nights become routine.

The ritual becomes familiar. The words that once felt weighty start to feel like words.

Until something cracks it open again.

Maybe it's a conversation with a Brother who's been in the Craft for forty year;

Who says something offhand about a symbol you've delivered a hundred times, and you realize he's describing something you've never considered.

Maybe it's sitting on the sidelines during a degree you know cold, watching a candidate experience it for the first time, and seeing something in his face that makes you wonder what you missed the first time around.

Maybe it's just a single line in the ritual.

One you've said so many times it stopped meaning anything.

And then one evening, for no particular reason, it lands differently.

Heavier. More specific. Like it was written for exactly where you are right now.

That's the moment most Masons don't talk about.

The realization that being raised was the beginning of the understanding, not the end of it.

The Craft doesn't give you everything in the first three degrees.

It gives you a set of questions dressed up as answers.

And the man who keeps pulling the thread finds more waiting underneath than he ever expected.

www.PointLomaMasonicLodge.com

08/13/2026

Jesus, a priest, and a Freemason walk into a bar. The bartender says, “I was told you guys couldn’t even be in the same room.” The Freemason says, “Yeah. Mostly by people who’ve never been in the room.”

www.PointLomaMasonicLodge.com

08/08/2026

Every Lodge has the same three men.

The ones who get called on when a toast needs delivering.

When a response needs giving.

When someone has to stand up and say something that actually means something.

And those three men say yes. Every time.

Not because nobody else could do it.

But because nobody else has ever tried.

So the same Brother responds to the visitors...

The same voice raises the toast to the Master...

The same steady hands carry the installation night from start to finish while everyone else sits comfortably and enjoys the evening.

It's not a complaint because those men rarely complain.

But watch them carefully...

They arrive earlier than everyone else.

They even stay later.

They carry a quiet weight that the rest of the room doesn't feel because the rest of the room never picked it up in the first place.

That's not how it's supposed to work.

The Festive Board belongs to the whole Lodge.

The toasts, the responses, the moments that give the evening its warmth and its rhythm.

Those aren't the responsibility of three reliable Brothers.

They're the responsibility of every man at the table.

Most men avoid it because they're not prepared.

And they're not prepared because they've never had to be.

Because those three Brothers always show up.

At some point, someone has to decide to become the fourth.

www.PointLomaMasonicLodge.com

07/28/2026

There's no manual for living well as a Freemason.

The ritual teaches principles.

The degrees hand you symbols.

But the gap between what the Lodge gives you and what you actually do with it is left entirely to you.

After years in the Craft, here's what I think filling that gap actually looks like.

1. Prepare your mind before every Masonic experience:

Not just the ritual. Every meeting, every lecture, every conversation with a Brother worth having.

Arrive ready, not just present.

2. Reflect deeply on every lesson you receive:

The degrees hand you more than any man can absorb in one sitting. Go back. Sit with it. Let it work on you over time.

3. Study continually:

The Craft rewards the man who keeps digging.

There's always another layer, another meaning, another question worth asking.

4. Apply what you learn every day:

Not in Lodge. At home. At work. In the decisions nobody else will ever know you made.

5. Let virtue become habit:

A virtue practiced only when convenient isn't really a virtue. It's a performance.

6. Build others, not just yourself:

The man who uses Freemasonry purely for personal development is missing half the point.

The Craft was built on relief. On service. On making the men around you better.

7. Live with the end of life in view:

The third degree makes this unavoidable. But most men leave Lodge and forget it by morning.

Keep it in mind. It sharpens everything.

8. Leave a legacy of character:

Not titles. Not offices held. The standard you set. The Brothers you influenced.

The version of the Craft you passed forward.

9. Never stop learning:

The man who thinks he has Freemasonry figured out has stopped being a Mason in any meaningful sense.

10. Remember that becoming a Mason is not the goal. Becoming a better man is:

The initiation was the invitation. Everything after is the work.

But what do you think?

www.PointLomaMasonicLodge.com

07/21/2026

On this day in 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 carried more than scientific instruments to the Moon.
Among the personal items taken on the historic mission was a Masonic flag, later returned to Earth and preserved as a unique piece of Masonic history.

07/14/2026

Most men have values.

Most men have some sense of who they want to be, and how they want to live.

But values without structure are just good intentions...

And good intentions, without something to anchor them to, tend to fade quietly into the background of a busy life.

Freemasonry has always known this...

That's why the trestle board exists.

In the days of operative masonry, before a single stone was cut , the master architect would draw out his plans.

Every measurement. Every angle.

Every detail the craftsmen needed to do their work properly.

Nobody showed up to the site and figured it out as they went.

They worked from a plan...

Freemasonry took that image and applied it to something more personal....

The trestle board, in the speculative Craft, represents the plans a man draws for his own life.

His principles. His intentions.

The standard he commits to before the difficult moments arrive - not during them.

Because decisions made under pressure are rarely the best ones.

Most men make almost all of their decisions that way...

Not because they don't care.

But because they never sat down and drew the plans.

Never recorded what they're building toward.

Never created anything to return to when life gets complicated and clarity is hard to find.

www.PointLomaMasonicLodge.com

07/09/2026

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