The Reverend Canon Michael D. H. Farr, B.A. Lth., Grand Prior

Scripture: Isaiah41:17-20 Psalm 18:1-20 St.Mark2:l-12
Theme: "The Secret of World Domination"

At the Supreme Council Session last year in Edmonton, one of the candidates joked "that he was disappointed because he felt he had now reached the Pinnacle of Masonry and still had not yet received the secret to World Domination". I have reflected on that comment over and over again during the past year. Masonry does have two great secrets (which need not be kept secret) which could lead to world domination if practiced by us all.

Let us look at the reading from St. Mark today. Jesus was in a house and there was a great crowd of people in the house and the crowd was over-flowing into the courtyard. Some friends of a paralyzed man brought him to the house looking for him to be healed and when they could not get into the house they took him up on the roof and opened a hole in the roof so that they could let him down on his mat in front of Jesus. Jesus healed him. Some were scandalized. Most were amazed and glorified God.

We live in a poor dry land such as we read about in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah today. In this dry land we need salvation from the cults of individualism, selfishness and of self-made people (they probably have a fool for a creator). Do you have friends or a community to call on or to carry you if need be? Do we not need to learn to trust God and our communities?

The good news for us today in the Book of Isaiah is that God will send water to dry places and plant cedars and acacia etc. in the desert. Our God acts when his people are in need. In the St. Mark's reading all too often we focus on the healing. I want us to look at the community. The friends of the paralytic let him down through the roof to get to Jesus. In verse 5, we read "When Jesus saw their faith," (N.R.S.V. translation). That is to say the faith of the four friends. On his own the paralytic would still be at home paralyzed.
The good news in our world today is that God still works through communities. A Masonic friend in Woodstock, Ontario, related to me that when his son was killed, the funeral home visitation was the same night as his lodge meeting. The members of his lodge opened and closed the lodge and came to the funeral home on mass. My friend said he felt carried by his brothers* Many trials in this life do not have to be carried alone. Let God and your community carry you.

It is faith in God and community which brings me back to the "Secret of World Domination". All Masons must express faith in the One True God who is responsible for all people and all things in this world of ours. I once heard the Grand Master of Scotland speaking in the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario, say that he had been in Lodge in Burma where there were five holy books open on the altar. This kind of religious acceptance and understanding should be a force for great peace and good in this troubled world of ours, if not "domination". The sense of community and fellowship is the other great secret of Masonry. It is the kind of fellowship that lets us make friends with people from every province in Canada and from other countries and with people from all walks of life and with people from many religions. Now that should be a force for world peace as well! Think of the example of the late Pope John Paul II, who met leaders of other World Religions on the "level". Did it take away from or diminish his Christian Faith or Roman Catholicism? Not a bit.

Maintain your faith in God and actively participate in your Faith Community. Do not
be afraid to let your friends carry you. I leave you with the words of the Most Worshipful William Pellow, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario (1987- 1989), and an Honorary Inspector-General of this Supreme Council;

"We don t have it all together. Together we have it all"

Amen