York Rite Educational Program

York Rite Mentor and Advanced Studies Program

Thomas Hendrickson-Chair

R. James Luchsinger

Ryan Regnier

Every so often the right people, with the right attitude, with the right vision, with the right knowledge, with the right passion, with the right motivation and right energy come together in a seamless fashion that produce the right results.

Our first meeting was in St. Cloud one evening during the Grand York Rite Session 2017. That one hour conversation took place in a hotel corridor. In the span of that one hour we created a shared vision, and determined we had the right stuff to create a educational program for the entire Minnesota York Rite. Something that has never been done before.

We were fully conscious that this was going to be a daunting and monstrous task that could take an entire year to produce. We understood that it would take hours of burning the midnight oil to keep the pace needed. We were sensitive enough to understand that we would need to remain motivated and encourage each other to stay on task.

That is how the York Rite Mentor and Advanced Studies Program was conceived, and its now ready to use. The program was designed to help you obtain a greater understanding and a deeper appreciation  of all the Degrees, and Orders in the York Rite.

Freemasonry is to Make Good Men Better. If we are to become better we have to study and understand its teaching and apply those lessons to our lives. In the Blue Lodge we are required to “prove up” before the Master as well as demonstrate our knowledge, and dedication to the Craft. But, we as Royal Arch Masons have a higher responsibility to “ disperse”  light and truth to the uninformed Mason. We are also tasked to study and acquire knowledge so we can perform that task.

The York Rite Mentor and Advanced Studies Program is not a test of your memory skills. It is, however,  a test of your willingness to seek out knowledge and improve yourself in Masonry.

It is our overall intent to provide a self-paced program that will walk you through all the various aspects of each of the Degrees and Orders. You will encounter some questions that will require you to think, ponder and do some soul searching because of their esoteric nature. But when you can complete all the questions in that particular degree you will have a very firm grasp of the knowledge of that degree.

The program is in the form of question and answer using multiple choice, fill in the blank, and true-false.

You will need your ritual and manual for the tests. The information booklets like the Quest books will be on line for you to use to assist you. Feel free to use materials in your Masonic Library, on line or your Mentor.

If your Chapter, Council or Commandery is looking for a great Education program we highly recommend you print out the questions and use them in a group discussion. It will be an evening where everyone will learn something. Caution…some of the questions may require you to think, and you may have to find your ritual or use the one on-line.

Some of the R.A.M. Chapter Secretaries are printing them out, and giving them to the new candidates as they progress thru the degrees as a learning tool.

I am please to report to you that this is cutting edge stuff. We have been informed by General Grand Chapter that this is the first on line program like this. We have had four or five calls from other Grand Chapters wanting to see what we have done. There is a buzz about our program.

Our work for this year is done. If you wish to accept the challenge to improve yourself in Masonry now your work lays before you. All you have to do is go to www.mnyorkrite.org go to Chapter, Council, or Commandery find the Resource page, log on and work through the pages.

If we at the York Rite Education Committee can help you in your further search for More Light in Freemasonry always feel free to call upon us.

Respectfully Submitted

Thomas E. Hendrickson-PGM and Grand Chapter Education Officer

PS If you think this is good, We have bigger plans for next year!

The Handwriting on the Wall

The Handwriting on the Wall

By Tom Hendrickson-P.G.M.

Have you ever heard the old saying “The Handwriting on the wall”? It’s a metaphor we generally use to describe a vague feeling of pending doom or a feeling that something bad is going to happen.

The saying comes from Belshazzar’s Feast which is mentioned in the Royal Arch Degree. It is a story that has many important lessons for all of us to consider. To understand the rest of the story I will explore the source which is in the Old Testament Book of Daniel Chapters Four and Five.

The scene is in Babylon about the Sixth Century before our era (or B.C.) and King Nebuchadnezzar’s Armies had conquered Jerusalem. A sizable portion of the Jewish population of Judah including all the Nobel’s and scholars had been captured and deported back to Babylon. The Temple was sacked of all of its sacred treasures and taken to Babylon as well. Among the stolen plunder were many sacred cups made of gold and silver.

King Nebuchadnezzar ordered his officials to conduct a talent search among the prisoners to find the best and the brightest to learn the local language and literature to serve within the Kings Palace. The most impressive among the group of talented young Jews was Daniel. Daniel had a very special gift as he could interpret the Kings dreams and reveal their mysteries.

In time Daniel became a trusted servant to the King, and Nebuchadnezzar did relinquish his pagan gods and acknowledged Daniel’s God, the God of the people of Israel.  Nebuchadnezzar’s son Belshazzar eventually become King and he is a different story all together.

Now before we move on to the main thrust of the story. I highly recommend you go on line and Google a painting by Rembrandt called Belshazzar’s Feast. The painting depicts beautifully the story you are about to read.

Daniel 5 Living Bible (TLB)

5 Belshazzar the king invited a thousand of his officers to a great feast where the wine flowed freely. ^2-4 While Belshazzar was drinking, he was reminded of the gold and silver cups taken long before from the Temple in Jerusalem during Nebuchadnezzar’s reign and brought to Babylon. Belshazzar ordered that these sacred cups be brought in to the feast, and when they arrived, he and his princes, wives, and concubines drank toasts from them to their idols made of gold and silver, brass and iron, wood and stone.

⁵ Suddenly, as they were drinking from these cups, they saw the fingers of a man’s hand writing on the plaster of the wall opposite the lampstand. The king himself saw the fingers as they wrote. ⁶ His face blanched with fear, and such terror gripped him that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way beneath him.

⁷ “Bring the magicians and astrologers!” he screamed. “Bring the Chaldeans! Whoever reads that writing on the wall and tells me what it means will be dressed in purple robes of royal honor, with a gold chain around his neck, and he will become the third ruler in the kingdom!”^[a]

⁸ But when they came, none of them could understand the writing or tell him what it meant.

⁹ The king grew more and more hysterical; his face reflected the terror he felt, and his officers too were shaken. 

So the Queen-Mother heard the ruckus and ran into the banquet hall and told the King to calm down. She told him to call Daniel for he could interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems and he would know what the writing on the wall means.

So Daniel is summoned and rushes in…..

²² “And you, his successor, O Belshazzar—you knew all this, yet you have not been humble. ²³ For you have defied the Lord of Heaven and brought here these cups from his Temple; and you and your officers and wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, brass, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not praised the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny! ^24-25 And so God sent those fingers to write this message: ‘Mene,’ ‘Mene,’ ‘Tekel,’ ‘Parsin.’

²⁶ “This is what it means:

“Mene means ‘numbered’—God has numbered the days of your reign, and they are ended.

²⁷ “Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed in God’s balances and have failed the test.

²⁸ “Parsin means ‘divided’—your kingdom will be divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

²⁹ Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was robed in purple, a gold chain was hung around his neck, and he was proclaimed third ruler in the kingdom.

And that very night King Belshazzar was killed, and Babylon was conquered.

Quite a story.  If you googled the picture as suggested, the story comes to life within the painting.  The morale of the story is clear: remember that our days on this earth are numbered and the time we spend here will be weighed and judged. So, live each day to the fullest, do good works and appreciate every day for it may be your last.

Remember -”The Hand Writing is on the wall”.