VASILE COCA
Orator, Transilvania Lodge No. 216, Cluj Napoca
”A mason’s work is never done.” His efforts are directed towards „raising temples to virtue and digging deep dungeons to vice”.
These constitute but two of the essential customs of Freemasonry, as they represent the essence of the efforts, spiritual or material, of brotherly polishing, which characterize the Lodges in which, apparently, the life of the Mason takes place. But just like we cannot describe Freemasonry in one phrase, nor can the active involvement of a member in a Lodge resume to the quotes above.
Masonic work must be, and categorically it is, very different from profane activities. Because it has no need to be stimulated. It yearns permanently towards the noble purpose of doing good and springs only from the warmth of the soul of a true man, of a being, as much material and perceptible from a physical point of view as spiritualized in the effort to realize the sublime. It does not chase material benefits, it does not have to be applauded and, sometimes, there is not even any need to know its author. Masonic work is crowned, most of the times, only by the thanksgiving of the accomplished deed. A brother who feels truly the grace of the Great Architect of the Universe falling upon his creation is sufficiently fulfilled so long as the self-giving, the altruism, the reciprocal help and the caressing he offers raise, support or fulfill a brother, or even an humble profane man.
If the “workshop” of the enterprises of a Freemason is represented by his own soul, it is certain that the coordinated efforts of several brethren must intertwine in the achievements of the Lodge. And this, in its own turn, is organized into a Temple constructed by all its members. Continuing the traditions of cardinal topography, the architectonic specificities, the interior components and forms, but also the dimensions, after the landmarks, he transmits in an esoteric vision the grandeur of the columns and of the central pillars, the infinite profundity of the successive universes of the mosaic, the fascination of the starry vault, the rigor of disposition of the Orient and of the Officers, the message of the Three Great Lights of Freemasonry, the symbolism of the articles, the solemnity of the Ritual, the emotion of initiation and the sobriety of the secrets of the work in the meetings.
More important, however, for the Masonic Temple is its significance as a spiritual house, a moral hearth and home, a shelter for the brotherly sentiments, the emotions and the feelings. And together with all that this means: warmth, comfort, safety, rest, satisfaction and fulfillment.
Any Freemason whose Lodge has its own Temple will know the happiness and the contentedness of him who, after a “day of labor”, has the satisfaction of returning “home”.
Beginning with June 27th, 2014, Transilvania Lodge No. 216, from Cluj, has its own temple. The brethren of this lodge have a home of their own, in which to reunite and to work unceasingly, as the precepts of Freemasonry specify. And then, when after a symbolic day of work, they are tired and satisfied, the house which they have imagined and constructed will receive them in order to give them the reward they deserve. The reward, which will not satisfy them through the illusory gleam of metals, the wealth of the interiors, the savory and the sweetness of the dishes or the illusion of unfounded hosannas, but rather by the present of dear face of each brother, the togetherness of the warmth of their souls and the union of their ideas and their yearnings, which tie them up as a brotherhood. The Masonic Temple which watched over Cluj, that of the Transilvania Lodge no. 216, is the home which they have dreamed of and which they will love.
May the Wisdom watch over it, may the Force support it and the Beauty ornament it. according to an ancestral concept of spiritual fulfillment, taken over from the profane world, the brethren of Transilvania Lodge have brought up some children (the apprentices), they have planted a tree (the Accacia tree in the courtyard of the Temple) and they have constructed a house (the Masonic Temple). Now, they may sit down, catch their breath, tired and satisfied. However, without forgetting one important thing: “A mason’s work is never done.”
