My Orlando Scottish Rite Brothers,

We will be celebrating ‘The Ceremony of Remembrance and Renewal’ at our Scottish Rite meeting on March 23, 2018. This ceremony is an open meeting, and we encourage you to invite friends and families. This ceremony is the honoring our Brethren who entered the Celestial Lodge last year and to renew our brotherly love and affection for each other this and for the future years.

Extracted from the writings of the Forms and Traditions of the Scottish Rite, by C. Fred Kleinknecht, 33°, Sovereign Grand Commander.

“The Ceremony of Remembrance and Renewal, including the Mystic Banquet, is not a religious observance. It is neither the Feast of the Passover nor a Sacrament of Holy Communion, although it commemorates the spirit of both days.

Chapter of Rose Croix traditionally observes the celebration of the Mystic Banquet as a memorial service honoring the Knights of their Chapter who have passed on during the preceding year. This observance strengthens the ties of brotherly love, past, and present. We meet together to break the bread of fraternity, to reconcile ourselves with those we may have offended, and to drink the wine of refreshment and renewal. Thus, we celebrate the lives of our departed Brethren and promise to abide by the New Law, the Law of Love, with our present Brethren and all mankind.

In this celebration, we also commemorate the lives all those who labored to improve mankind and rewarded with betrayal, punishment, and death. Whether poet, religious leader, scientist or social reformer, all who seek to elevate humankind we should consider as Brethren. Masonry is a duty, and its practice, often fraught with personal sacrifice, requires the performance of responsibility for the good of humanity.”

In closing – may the blessing of heaven rest upon us and all regular Masons, may brotherly love prevail, and ever moral and social virtue cement us. AMEN!

Fraternally,
Ill:. George R. Van Pelt, Sr., 33°
Master of Kadosh