"This was the speech of MW Reynato S. Puno, PGM, GMH and Chief Justice of the Philippines delivered during the testimonial dinner tendered in his honor by the Provincial Grand Lodge of the Philippines of the Royal Order of Scotland two weeks ago. (at the *Festive Board, Royal Order of Scotland, Provincial Grand Lodge of the Philippines, May 31,2008, Elks Club, Corinthian Plaza Bldg., Paseo de Roxas, Makati.)
Would like to share them with you."
MW Jimmy Y. Gonzales (PGM)
Walk the Masonic Light* by Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, Supreme Court
"My message to you is a short one: walk the Light of Masonry.
It may be short but throughout the ages, masonic scholars have excavated its esoteric dimensions and have yet to exhaust the range of its latitude and longtitude.
Without fearing any contradiction, I say that there is no universal institution, outside of organized churches, that has invested so much of its time and talent searching for the Light than the masonic fraternity.
To be sure, as we travel through life, as we complete our pilgrimage in this planet, we shall endlessly be preoccupied with the need to walk the Light. For a moment, allow me therefore to revisit with you the world of masonry.
When we knocked at the door of masonry, we were seized by one overwhelming desire – the desire to be brought from darkness to Light. Thus, we were pointedly asked the question:
'Being in a condition of darkness, what do you most desire?' To that question, our one word answer is 'Light.'
In a most unforgettable fashion, we were then shown the Light by which masons work – the Great Light, the Holy Scripture. And we were presented with the lamb skin apron to remind us of the never enduring argument for nobler deeds, higher thoughts and greater achievements.
In other words, we were reminded of the need to be illumined by the Great Light of masonry, the Holy Scripture in our worldly words and deeds. Again, we should recall the drama of Hiram Abiff. That drama espouses lessons that can be the subject of open ended expositions in our lifetime.
Let me, however, just select one shred of its rich fibre in relation to my message, walk the Light. The drama of Hiram Abiff tells us how we lost the Light; it identifies to us the causes of darkness in our life. This is all succinctly explained by a masonic scholar, viz:
'This tragedy of Hiram Abiff… is not the record of any vulgar, brutal murder of an individual man. It is a parable of cosmic and universal loss; an allegory of the breakdown of a divine scheme. We are dealing with no calamity that occurred during the erection of a building in an eastern city, but with a moral disaster to universal humanity.
Hiram is slain; in other words, the faculty of enlightened wisdom has been cut off from us. It is not the death of the human body that is alluded to here. It is the death of the personality, of the self-centered ego, before the Spiritual Self can be born. This secret of spiritual birth is known to antiquity. Paul, the Apostle wrote: 'I die daily … Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not made alive, except it die.'" (1Cor. 15:31, 36).
In fine, masonry teaches us that man is a different creature; that he has a higher nature; that created in the image of God, he has a divine aspect; that he has the capacity to develop this higher nature. Above all, that he can attain this objective, but only with the help of GAOTU.
Our hope, therefore does not lie in ourselves, however wise we are; it does not lie in institutions, however venerable they are. Our hope lies above us; it lies in the letter G. Again, this explains why the first qualification of a mason is belief in God. And as a man of the cloth pointed out, belief presupposes we have to listen to God.
I remember one story about Joan of Arc, the patron saint of France. Joan ofArc often said that it is God who tells her what to do. Once she was asked in an interview why she claims God only talks to her. She said: 'Your question is wrong. God talks to all of us but it is only I who listen.'
Come to think how pertinent the legend of Hiram Abiff is to our lives today. Is it not true that men (masons not excluded) falter in following the Light because they have become indifferent to the demands for them to develop their higher nature and so they succumb either to the seduction of pleasure, the allurement of power, the enticement of property and the safety of indifferentism.
Dr.Margaret Mead, a famous anthropologist and author bewailed modern man's switch of emphasis to pleasure, power and property. She observed that in the old days, people part by bidding each other 'Good Be' which is the short form of God be with you. Today, she observed, we part by advising each other to "take it easy."
A minister was correct in saying the modern devil no longer says God is Dead for that is an indefensible proposition but instead says God is not yet coming, there is plenty of time and take it easy.
Masonry further tells us that the struggle to walk the Light is a long unending struggle and demands extreme endurance. By no means is it an easy struggle, for we are advised to fight life's vices with virtue; we are asked to engage evil in actual battles and not to retreat in the barracks of life.
To walk is to move, to act; hence, you cannot walk the Light by inaction. Inaction. Let me submit that this is the one word that describes what has plagued Philippine masonry since the last half of the 20th century.
The question that has inconvenienced the fraternity is why it appears to have lost its luster. For quite sadly, masonry appears to have ceased to be a continuing source of heroes, after masons spearheaded the revolution of 1898 against Spain that gave us our political independence.
Quite understandably, our people have developed an ennui on our claim to greatness that has already been embalmed by time and of interest only to historians of the old world. Whether we like it or not, we have to demonstrate that masonry has more than anthropological value. And I respectfully submit that masonry today carries the good potential to produce leaders who can handhold our people to a new renaissance, a rebirth based on the masonic principles of truths, justice, equality and charity.
Unquestionably, our country is beset by a variety of problems more serious than those which confronted it during the times of Rizal and Bonifacio. Time constrains a more authoritative discussion of these problems that have reduced us to be a basket case in Asia. But in simplistic terms, let us not delude ourselves in the romanticism that our people now livein complete freedom.
The truth that hurts is that the so called sovereignty of our people is no more than a paper sovereignty. It is a sovereignty written in the Constitution but not rooted in reality. For where is the sovereignty of the people when its elections of public officials are farcical? Where is the sovereignty of the people when they are ruled by dynasties of politicians who are worse than the medieval monarchs?
Where is the sovereignty of the people when they are controlled by vested business interest whose empires are run by relentless greed? Where is the sovereignty of the people when government barters away their interest in favor of foreign states and their multinationals?
A people that is poor, a people that is mired in poverty, a people that lives day to day on a begging bowl will never be a free people. The strongest chain that manacles the hands of a people, the biggest prison house in the world, is poverty.
If I relate all these, it is to lift the blinders in our eyes that hides the ugly reality that the Filipino today need to be freed -- freed from home grown oppressors and freed from the assaults of foreign interest, especially assaults directed at his breadbasket.
In fine, if masonry is losing its relevance in our country, it is not because its teachings are irrelevant for concededly, its teachings are timeless. If masonry is losing its appeal to our people, it is not because it has run out of battles to fight for them, for these battles have widened into wars.
If Filipino masonry appears to be destined to the dustbin of history, it is because, unlike the Rizals and the Bonifacios, today's masons have not matched their masonic beliefs with masonic behavior.
The Holy Scriptures tell us that faith without action is dead. So it is with masonry, for masonry in theory is fine but masonry in practice is masonry in its finest.
A pleasant evening to all."
____________ _________ _________ __
* Festive Board, Royal Order of Scotland, Provincial Grand Lodge of the Philippines, May 31, 2008, Elks Club, Corinthian Plaza Bldg., Paseo de Roxas, Makati.
(Emailed by Bro Ricardo (Dick) F. Otero, Jr., Bagong Buhay Lodge # 17, Cavite City, Unity Lodge # 285, Olongapo City.)
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