11th & 12th Districts Masonic Association

Tai Chi Gung May 16  <- Click here or see the flyer below.

Here it is Brothers! The event you’ve heard about and have eagerly anticipated since you first heard Master Lama Rasaji speak at our monthly meeting in February at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center in Jacksonville. In case you need a refresher you may view this link. It will open another window or tab in your browser depending upon your settings.

This event is open to any guests you choose to invite and certainly to all Master Masons and their families; FC and EA’s as well. We will gather in Orange Park Lodge’s Fellowship Hall and Master Rasaji will lead us through the basic exercises which will condition the practitioner to perform the Tai Chi Gung short form, sometimes call “The Dance.” This gathering will last about 90 minutes and Master Rasaji will be available for questions. He will share with us the purpose and proper performance of the exercises and tell us how it affects our health. In addition, Master Rasaji will have available for sale at a very special promotional price (you save the shipping) of $45 his DVD which demonstrates the exercises and as a special added bonus for this event, those who purchase the DVD will get a copy of his book, The Circle of Chi, which describes in detail how Tai Chi Gung addresses your Health, Wealth and True Happiness. It covers such topics as chi (life energy), mind, breath, movement, nutrition, work, money, friendships and nature. You will find the information very useful in your daily life.

If your health is the most important thing in your life, you don’t want to miss this event. If it’s not the most important thing in your life then you might want to make sure you think about that. Without your health, what is there?

Just so we can get an idea of how many people will be there, please email or call me to let me know you will be coming. It is NOT NECESSARY to RSVP but it will help us out. If it’s the last minute and you just found out about this, don’t let that stop you. Come on anyway.

Don’t forget that we will also be doing a Food Drive for the Second Harvest organization. Bring a couple food items. Preferably the ones listed on the flyer. If you can’t bring or don’t have time to obtain food items, we recommend a $10 donation which will be converted to food and passed along to the local food bank.

Call or contact me if you have questions. I look forward to seeing you there.

–
Patrick Farrell, PDDGM

Junior Grand Deacon
Secretary, Masonic Association
11th and 12th Districts
http://jaxmasons.org

“Let’s Learn To Communicate Better Together!”

Brothers,

You may have noticed a few emails I sent out yesterday evening in which I could not contain my excitement in discovering yet another way to help our lodges get the word out about happenings in the lodges. Some secretaries have responded and shared their Trestleboards. We began using a new tool, well new to us anyway, to post documents online and make them available to a wide audience regardless of computing platform (PC , Mac, Windows, Linux) or browser (IE 7-10, Firefox, Safari, Chrome).

You will notice a new heading, “Trestleboards,” in the navigation column on the left of this article. When you mouse-over that heading you will see a listing of those lodges who have shared their trestleboards. There are even some outside the 11^th and 12^th Districts. I’m considering a few options for formatting. But for now we’ll just keep it simple.

At this point, it’s pretty simple for me to upload a trestleboard that I receive via email from someone representing that lodge. It only takes a few seconds to go through the process and post it. At some point this will become an onerous task. Imagine one trying to post 300 trestleboards once a month. But for now, it’s manageable. The beauty of this idea is that it’s scalable. As we grow the work, I can teach representatives from each lodge to post their own Trestleboard to their own scribd.com account and the TB’s will be automatically shared with the appropriate locations. Imagine that the Secretary posts the TB on his scribd.com account which only takes a few seconds and it’s automatically pushed out to all lodge members, the Grand Lodge, whatever social websites you choose to interact with and wherever else you can imagine.

We live in exciting times!

Fraternally,

Pat

–
Patrick Farrell, PDDGM

Junior Grand Deacon
Secretary, Masonic Association
11th and 12th Districts
http://jaxmasons.org

“Let’s Learn To Communicate Better Together!”

2012 Black Creek District Eagle Scouts

Saturday evening, February 2, I had the great honor of representing The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida at the 31st Annual Black Creek District Eagle Scout Recognition Dinner held at Orange Park United Methodist Church. I was in good company. In addition to my lovely wife, Rose, I sat at the table with Illustrious Sir Dennis Green, Potentate of Morocco Shine and his Lady, June, RW Frank Kleese, PDDGM and his Lady, Ann, W Jim Gaskins and his Lady, Bonnie. There were representatives of many other civic organizations who wished to share in recognizing these young men for their outstanding achievements.

As Rose and I approached the building I noticed and hailed W Jim Gaskins and his Lady coming up the sidewalk. We greeted and headed to the entrance. As we walked in the door to the auditorium it was immediately apparent we were in the right place. The room was decorated in red, white and blue and was buzzing with activity. I looked around the room as we waited in line at the check-in table. Immediately, I saw Brother Paul Cummins walking briskly in our direction to assist us to our reserved seating. There were smiling and happy people everywhere and an army of people preparing the feast and assisting with setups.

While waiting for all to settle in, I perused the program booklet. The first thing I noticed was that the program itself was of the highest quality. Each of the 39 Eagle Scouts was shown on his own page with picture and bio. Also listed in the program were the names of the  770 Eagle Scouts who were recognized over the past 30 years. It occurred to me that this was quite an elite and exclusive group of men.

Very shortly, we were called to order by the Master of Ceremonies. After a few minutes of welcome and instruction we were given directions to the serving lines and soon sat down to a outstanding steak dinner including baked potato and of course green beans. Our guest speaker came to the microphone at the end of the meal and gave a thorough accounting of the names of famous Eagle Scouts extending back several generations.

Following the introduction of dignitaries, the presenters were organized into a receiving line and each individual Eagle Scout in the class of 2012 was introduced and presented with a variety of certificates suitable for framing as well as appropriate insignia. At this time I had the pleasure of shaking hands and looking each of these young men in the eyes. It was greatly rewarding to see this side of our youth. These young men brought a sense of pride and achievement with them as they graciously accepted recognition with heads held high.

After the awards were presented and the young men posed for the group picture, we had an opportunity to meet and talk with them and their families. The pride and honor in this room was intoxicating.

Patrick Farrell, PDDGM

Junior Grand Deacon

            It was the first of 28 events we required to attend with the newly elected Grand Master of Florida Masons as he made his required visits to each of the 34 Masonic Districts throughout the State of Florida. We were the 34 newly appointed District Deputy Grand Masters (DDGMs) who he had selected (hand-picked) to represent him in overseeing the operation of the many Masonic Lodges that made up these 34 Masonic Districts in the State of Florida.   Dressed in formal tuxedos and accompanied by our wives or ladies, we had just finished a wonderful evening meal that included all the pomp, ceremony and pageantry of our Masonic Fraternity. Knowing that we would be given the same respect and extended the same courtesies as the Grand Master we represented in our Districts, we were all like wide-eyed young boys, astonished and excited to be a part of the Florida Masonic Fraternity Leadership for the ensuing year. It was like our first trip to Disney World and we were taking it all in.

The event was attended by all the Grand Lodge elected and appointed officers, all state and zone chairmen for the various committees that administer the Grand Lodge Programs and all the Lodge Officers and Brothers from the various Lodges in the District we were visiting.    Sometimes in excess of 400 people attended.  After the meal we all moved to a Masonic Lodge to have the Stated Meeting where we would officially receive the Grand Master and his Party which included the current District Deputy Grand Masters (DDGMs) and any Past Grand Masters or other dignitaries’ in attendance for the honors normally accorded him. For our entrance into the Lodge we were divided into three groups and like my Navy days aboard ship, where the most senior leaders entered the boat to go ashore last so they could be the first out when we reached the pier, we followed the same procedure.

Group one consisted of the Grand Lodge Committeemen, Past DDGMs, Past District Instructors, and the Heads of the Allied and Appendant Bodies. Each individual introduced themselves and they were all men who deserved special recognition for their contributions to our Fraternity.

Group two consisted of the current Appointed Grand Lodge Officers, current District Deputy Grand Masters (DDGMs), and current District Instructors (DIs). The Worshipful Grand Marshall introduced this group.

Group three consisted of The Most Worshipful Grand Master and his Party which included the Elected Grand Lodge Officers and any attending Past Grand Masters who all received Grand Honors. The Worshipful Grand Marshall introduced this group.

It was the duty of the District Deputy Grand Master (DDGM) of the District we were visiting to preside over the meeting.  So, the local District Deputy Grand Master (DDGM) and the Officers of the Lodge along with the attending Brothers proceeded into the Lodge to reopen the Lodge in order to formally receive the Grand Master. This became a time of waiting for us.

Waiting can be a painful experience but in this case it wasn’t.  It gave us time to retrieve our aprons and get properly dressed for the meeting.  Although the 34 DDGMs had initially met at our formal day –and-a-half DDGM orientation in St Petersburg approximately two-and-a-half months earlier, this was our first official visit together and our first opportunity to gather as a group and talk among ourselves. So, we gathered in the hall or an adjoining room to wait for our time to make our formal entrance.  Here we reintroduced ourselves to each other, we told stories, shared experiences, and got to know each other at a level beyond the Masonic Brotherhood and it really afforded us the opportunity to become lifelong friends.  We were truly wide-eyed, excited, “boys in the hall” socializing, sharing our strengths, building on our weaknesses, eager to become those “men in the arena,” strong masons, who could perform our duties at the level our Grand Master expected of us. After attending several of these meetings we became closer and even conspired to play tricks on the Grand Marshall, such a hiding from him when he came out of the Lodge to usher us back in. This somewhat private time we spent together, waiting to be ushered into the Lodge, was important time that allowed us to bond together as a special group of leaders.  It made us feel important as a team and to use the experiences, background, and knowledge of each other to build our own self-esteem.  This further allowed us to focus, in a unified manner on the mission and goals put forward by our Most Worshipful Grand Master for our Fraternity.  We had come of age and truly become the, “men in the arena”.

Brothers, the following showed up on Facebook:

Posted in Florida Masons Group on Facebook

Looks like we missed a good gathering for “further light.”

But, we can make the next one. Who’s up for a road trip?

http://blerg5.eventbrite.com/

If you click on the picture above and it doesn’t allow you to view the Facebook post, it’s likely because you are not a member of the group. Please let me know and we’ll see what we can do about that. All the information for the upcoming event is at the eventbrite.com link. Check it out and let me know if you’re interested.

Here is a nice slideshow presentation of the Grand Master’s visit to Jacksonville last month. I saw it on Facebook as it was posted there by our own RH Corey Kosciuszko. I suspect the credit for the photos goes to Brother Corbin Elliott.

Click the link:

Fraternally,

Pat

Patrick Farrell, PDDGM

2012 Junior Grand Deacon
Secretary, Masonic Association
11th and 12th Districts
http://jaxmasons.org

“Let’s Learn To Communicate Better Together!”