March 2025 Trestleboard

This year, as in most years, the Christian season of Lent spans the whole of March. It is a season of self-examination, discipline, and spiritual refinement, most often marked by fasting. The 40 days of Lent are meant to bring to mind the 40 days that Jesus is said to have fasted in the desert before his public ministry began. 

Both Lent and Freemasonry invite us to reflect, identify areas for improvement, and take measured actions to make those improvements. In the Entered Apprentice degree, we are introduced to the common gavel and taught about its usefulness in making the rough ashlar smooth. Similarly, the Lenten practice of fasting is a way of intentionally divesting our minds and consciences of any vice or superfluities of life that may distract us from becoming better men. 

Such distractions can come in many forms. Perhaps it is as simple as too much chocolate–the most common food item given up during Lent–but as Masons, we can certainly think of more important things from which to abstain. What makes the ashlar of your life rough? Where might you use the speculative common gavel to knock away parts of that rough ashlar this Lenten season?

Whether you identify as Christian, observe Lent, or not, the principles of this season align nicely with that earliest of lessons we are taught as Masons. There are things in my life that hinder my progress toward being the best man and Mason that I can be. The responsibility is mine to chip away at those with the tools with which I have been presented, as a speculative Mason. The ashlar of your life will never be perfect but, as Worshipful Brother John Saultz reminded us at Refreshment after March Stated, Vince Lombardi once said “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” Let us catch excellence in our pursuit of a more perfect ashlar.