CAPITAL CITY LODGE #499
FREE & ACCEPTED MASONS
4647 U STREET, SACRAMENTO, CA 95817
AUGUST 2022
MONTHLY TRESTLE BOARD
Published monthly by
Monica Hodge
CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR AUGUST 2022
Wednesday, August 3rd…….Capital City Masonic Temple
Start 6:30 pm…………….………….…….………Dinner
Start 7:00 pm…….……..…….………..Stated Meeting
Saturday, August 6th……….Capital City Masonic Temple
Start 8:00 am…………..….Monthly Lodge Breakfast
Wednesday, August 10th…..Capital City Masonic Temple
Start 7:00 pm…………………………….Ritual Practice
Wednesday, August 17th……….Harding-San Juan Lodge
Start 7:00 pm………….……………………OSI Meeting
Wednesday, August 24th…..Capital City Masonic Temple
Start 7:00 pm…………………………….Ritual Practice
Wednesday, August 31st…..Capital City Masonic Temple
Start 7:00 pm…………………………….Ritual Practice
AUGUST BIRTHDAYS
Happy Birthday to the following 8 brethren!! May you have many, many more.
Bassam Abughazalah Thomas H. Brown
Charles L. Centers, Sr. Joseph (Kelly) Dixon
Ronald K. Ridley Sean M. Roper
Tim P. Scott Pete H. Wanzenried, PM
ELECTED OFFICERS FOR 2022
Joseph “Kelly” Dixon (Sabrena) Master
Robert W. Leach (Julie) Senior Warden
Eduardo Caballero Jr., PM (Jeralyn) Junior Warden
Eric Schlenker, PM (Shelly) Treasurer
Mark K. Laybourn, PM (Alicia) Secretary
Valentino V. Garcia Chaplain
Virgilio V. Manganaan, PM (Tessie) Senior Deacon
Kevin R. Laybourn (Kristine) Junior Deacon
Sean Roper Marshall
Roy Ridley, PM Senior Steward
Ron Ridley, PM Junior Steward
Tony Shelton, PM (Monica) Organist
Alexander A. Asuncion Sr., PM (Myra) Tiler
John Knox, PM Grand Lodge Inspector for the 410th Masonic District
AUGUST STATED MEETING MENU
(Meal prepared by Eduardo Caballero Jr.)
Main Dish: Spaghetti & Meatballs
Salad: Garden
Bread: Garlic
Dessert: Cheese Cake
A variety of drinks will also be provided. We look forward to seeing everyone there.
CAPITAL CITY LODGE #499, F. & A.M.
Stated Meeting………………First Wednesday at 7:00 pm
Officer’s Coaches: Loren Robinson, PM
Chief Candidate’s Coach: TBD by Master
LODGE EMAIL ADDRESS
FROM THE EAST – THE PILLAR OF WISDOM
Greetings Brethren.
As my year of sitting in the East moves into the month of August, many Lodge-related issues occupy my thoughts. From maintaining harmony, to keeping a watchful eye out for unscrupulous individuals, to using email phishing scams to steal from our membership. For the record, I don’t use email to solicit help buying gift cards. It is an old scam that never seems to die, it simply changes its form and approach.
Between the spectrum of the issues described above, I continually look for new and innovative ways to create opportunities for greater service to, and engagement with our membership.
For a number of reasons, many of our brothers do not participate in Lodge. I know that some of our brothers have moved away, while others have transportation challenges. In trying to address these issues, I would be interested to hearing from our membership about their ideas in improving the Lodge experience. Ideas which the current or past, Pillars of the Lodge may not have considered.
For example:
Would it make a difference for those with transportation concerns, if we could arrange for a ride from a brother or Uber?
or
If we could arrange for remote participation via an online platform such as Zoom, would you login?
Please reach out to me via email, with your ideas and thoughts regarding these and any other matters you might like to have addresses. You just might have the solution keys to one or more of the challenges facing our Lodge.
Fraternally,
Kelly Dixon
Master Kd.12682@gmail.com
FROM THE WEST – THE PILLAR OF STRENGTH
Greetings Brethren.
From the West, as we continue to move into the hotter days of Summer, let us not forget about these fun times spent with our Family and Friends.
I would like to share my family experiences this summer with you. Because my oldest son is out for the Summer, my family and I are doing more vacations and activities closer together. As he transitions into General Ed Kindergarten, we will be in more of a structured environment next year. This first week in August, I will be missing the Stated Meeting, and taking my family back to Disneyland again. I share this because Summer has always been a time for the Lodge “to go dark”, and most brothers do a lot of traveling. I look forward to hearing about everyone’s vacations, perhaps at the next Lodge breakfast.
Lodge breakfast will be held on the first Saturday of this Month on August 6th, 2022, at the same time of 8:00 am to 10:00 am. Worshipful Dixon has kindly accepted the responsibility to head our breakfast, as I will be out of town. Brothers, as always, help is wanted and needed to make the monthly breakfast a success. Please reach out to Worshipful Dixon or myself if you’re interested in helping out. Friends and family that are interested in joining Lodge, please bring them down to meet the brothers and their families.
Hope to see you all there!
Viber Messenger: Chats & Calls
Please fill free to ask one of the Pillars of the lodge for assistance in setting up “Viber”. You can send a message to my phone at 916-591-0137 and I can send you an invite to download and join “Viber”. Or you can go ahead and download “Viber” and add me as a contact. Simply, message me in Viber and I will add you to the Main Lodge Communication Group. The App is available for Apple and Android smart phones which most of us have these days. If you are having issues, please let us know at a lodge meeting or event and one of us would be happy to help.
Please reach out with any concerns, questions or ideas. Fill free to contact any officer.
Fraternally,
Robert W. Leach
Senior Warden Rwleach@gmail.com
FROM THE SOUTH – THE PILLAR OF BEAUTY
Greetings from the South Brethren!
We are in the month of August, and the weather is getting hotter and hotter. Plus, we expect more triple-digit temperatures to come. I would advise everyone to stay indoors, and keep yourself cool & well hydrated. Hopefully, this warm weather will also warm up our spirits, and bring out our burning desires to get involved in Lodge activities.
Speaking of which, our Stated Meeting for the month of August is also fast approaching. Dinner will include Spaghetti & Meatballs, Garlic Bread, a Garden Salad and Cheese Cake for dessert.
For this month’s article, I will continue with some masonic education, as well as talk about charity – see below:
Charity Begins at Home
“Charity begins at home, is the voice of the world: yet is every man his greatest enemy”. This expression was first put into print that we now use Religio Medici in 1642 by Sir Thomas Browne. There was also an earlier claim in 1383 by John Wycliffe, who wrote “Charity should begin at himself”. Many people have different interpretations on what charity could mean. One might argue that this means taking care of your own family first, before taking care of other people outside your family, while the other might argue, you teach your children the value of charity at home so they in turn can take care of other people besides themselves. It might seem to take on the same result, but the approach is entirely different. The first statement assumes that the family needed charity so it should start at home, while the other statement also assumes the children needed to learn charity at home before they can be charitable outside of the home. Although the original text “charity begins at home” is not from the Bible, there is a close reference to this concept that came from 1 Timothy 5:4 where Paul (one of the disciples) tells Timothy (also one of the disciples) “to make sure the widows are taken care of by their own families first, before calling on the church.”
So, are we charitable? Is freemasonry a charitable organization? Faith, Hope and Charity, and the greatest of this is Charity. What does charity mean for us? In our quest to make ourselves a better person, we make certain sacrifices to put others before our own needs. To put our family’s needs before our own, then our neighbor, our community and our country. To those who came before us and found enlightenment, sought and captured the bigger picture, the authors of the constitution, the fallen heroes in the battlefield, they all made the biggest sacrifices and delivered some of the greatest acts of charity. But, so did the fathers who took care of their wives and children every single day for the rest of their mortal life. Charity is an unselfish act to take care of others before yourself, no matter how big or small the act is.
Touching on the technical side of this concept, I would like to clarify that freemasonry is charitable and advocates charity, but a masonic lodge is not a charitable organization. A lodge may create a charitable foundation for a specific purpose of charitable work, yet a lodge alone cannot take credit of being a charitable organization.
As masons, we sometimes become the voice of those who kept quiet for a long time. Those who lost their voice to speak because they are tamed by the barbarous and brute force of poverty, constantly knocking on their doors. As masons, we sometimes open doors for the world to see that what is beautiful in the outside, might be masking the destruction and the suffering in the inside. As masons, sometimes we have to throw the first stone in order to create a ripple. As masons, most of the time we must travel the rough and rugged road in order to appreciate the beauty of the landscape of our journey.
Fraternally,
Eduardo Caballero Jr., PM
Junior Warden ejrcaballero@hotmail.com