Masonry's Common Thread

David J. Reilly, 32°, K.C.C.H.
2718 27th Way
West Palm Beach, Florida, 33407

Our challenge and satisfaction is to weave an illustrious pattern with the threads, the ideals, of Masonry.

A few weeks ago, I was getting ready to go to a Scottish Rite Consistory meeting. As I put on my sport coat, my wife told me I had a thread on my jacket. I immediately removed it and began thinking about how many times I had removed a thread from a shirt or coat. I remember my mother teaching me not to pull a thread but to cut it. She said, "If you pull the thread, the cloth could separate." A whole sleeve might, for instance, fall off my coat or shirt. My wiseacre brother added that my arm would fall off, too!

I also thought about all the Masons who have removed a thread while getting ready for a meeting or dressing for a Degree. I jokingly thought, "Maybe this is the common thread that is talked about between Masons." While chuckling, I began thinking about the idea. Maybe the concept wasn't as off-the-wall as I had originally thought. Maybe there is a common thread that unites all Masons.

What about those famous Masons? What was it they and all Masons had in common that caused them to work together and want to be together? Did Washington, Revere, Hancock, and Franklin have these "threads" hanging on their clothes and, at the same time, the common ideals, philosophical "threads," that brought them together? At the other end of the scale, we know many of the soldiers were in threads at Valley Forge, but did they also share another "thread," one of mutual devotion to America and, in many cases, Masonry? By the end of the Civil War, many soldiers returned home only in threads. We know thread was a luxury during the Great Depression, and we have heard the phrase, "held together by a thread."

Recently, we hosted a band concert at the Lake Worth, Florida, Scottish Rite Masonic Center. Many of the composers on the program—John Phillip Sousa, George Gershwin, and Irving Berlin—were Masons. I couldn't help but think, "What was the common thread that tied men like them together with men like myself and other Brothers within the Fraternity?" Could such a thread account for so many Masons having a song in their hearts? What about the actors—John Wayne, Ernest Borgnine, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Red Skelton, and Norman Cosby—who were and are Masons? Does a common thread explain the little "ham" or "Marty" in them and all of us? Then there are great businessmen and religious leaders who are Masons. Is there a common thread that weaves their sense of service and tolerance for humankind to us?

Although the thread on my coat was what got me thinking, the focal point of this article is that common thread or bond between Masons. What links us with the great or famous Masons we admire? What links us to the Brethren we look up to as mentors and guides today? Clearly, the main "threads" of Freemasonry are composed of the Craft's concepts and ideals, the Masonic tenets that make us Masons today. We seek knowledge, we share the same moral values, we support family, brotherhood, civic service, God, and country. We enjoy being with Brothers who share the same ideals. For centuries, men under the auspices of Freemasonry have enjoyed fellowship and shared the insights offered by our Degrees. We engage in beneficial projects and enjoy the good feeling of working together while giving of ourselves. The sense of satisfaction we gain urges us to strive even more in order to repeat that sense of well-being. We are blessed by the fact that the more we do for others, the more we receive in return.

It is time to reweave the common threads of Freemasonry and work them more deeply into our daily lives. You may know someone who does embroidery. You have seen the weaving of those threads, the choosing of the various colors, and the success of the finished work. The common threads of the Masonic Fraternity, which strengthen us as a group and as individuals, do the same and, similarly, result in a beautiful pattern, a life of deep satisfaction and service. Brothers, it is up to us to weave.

David J. Reilly is an assistant principal at Wellington High School, Wellington, Florida, and has been involved in education in Palm Beach County for 26 years. He is a member of West Palm Beach Harmonia Lodge No. 138 and of the Scottish Rite Bodies of Lake Worth, which he serves as the Personal Representative of the S.G.I.G. in Florida and Valley Librarian. He is also a member of Amara Shrine Temple, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.