MOST EXCELLENT MASTER DEGREE
By Bill Wojtas PHP, EGM2V
As the lesson of the Mark Master Degree is ties to that of
the Blue Lodge Fellowcraft Degree, the Most Excellent Master Degree is tied to
the Master Mason Degree. The Master
Mason degree touches on the concepts of death, resurrection and immortality of
the soul in its allegories. The sixth
degree’s symbolism represents the man preparing himself to take on that
journey.
In our current degree, we are taught that the Temple which
we have just built, represents our present life.
The
foreign country into which, after its completion a Mason is expected to travel,
is that undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns. The wages he is to receive are the rewards of
a well spent life and a knowledge of divine truth which the Grand Architect of
the Universe will bestow upon all who faithfully perform their task.
This alludes to the idea that we need to perfect our craft,
“… who faithfully perform their task”.
We need to prepare ourselves for that journey to immortality by
performing the good works leading to a life well spent.
…that
if we have erected the temple of our inner life by square, plumb line and rule,
its foundations shall never fail and its fabrics shall never crumble nor
decay. Then let us, my Brother, take
care that we so labor in the erection of our temple here, that when we shall
leave this for that far distant country, whence we shall never return, we may
there receive the wages of faithful craftsmen.
How we as Most Excellent Masters prepare ourselves for that
journey is found in the history of the degree and the charge.
From a historical standpoint, the Most Excellent Master
Degree was an honor which was established by King Solomon to bestow upon
craftsmen who have distinguished themselves and have proven themselves to be
masters of their profession. It was an
order of merit bestowed upon those craftsmen who were worthy of praise due to
their merits.
When the temple was completed, we are taught that King
Solomon received and acknowledged the most distinguished craftsmen by bestowing
the honor of Most Excellent Master. With
that honor came the privilege of the ability to travel to foreign countries to
seek employment. They were also charged
with bringing light and truth to those who are yet uninformed.
The historical charge of the degree admonishes us to be
completely familiar with the preceding degrees so that we have the ability to
dispense that truth. If you are not, you
are expected to apply “double diligence” in making that so. We are charged with making ourselves
intimately familiar with the lectures of all the preceding degrees so that we
ourselves are true experts in our craft and able to dispense light and truth to
our brethren who are yet uninformed.
We must strive to perfect our craft so that we may dispense
that light. So that we live our lives in
accordance with the teachings of all our degrees thus performing the good works
necessary for a life well spent to become worthy of our wages. We are obligated to live in the light so that
we dispense that light by example and that we help those who have imperfections
by providing good counsel, discretely.
This is how we prepare ourselves for that journey we call life to eventually meet our own mortality, so that when we take on that next stage, we may receive our wages in a glorious immortality.
