Dear reader in the appropriate form of salutation!
Here we are again. Many, I’d like to imagine all the Brothers, from many places, from all the places around the Mediterranean that is our Confederation: the Family we are, a united Family that grows and thrives. We already met last year, thanks to an inspired intuition of our President Br. Karl Walder, and in spite of the forced isolation which we are now almost accustomed to, we meet again.
We meet again, and it is time to awaken.
And to celebrate this awakening, we have decided to gather here in Montebelli. For obvious reasons we are not the number of Brothers that the Labyrinth usually welcomes, but still we are together as a good omen and a good wish for everyone.
Last year we recalled that if the XIX century was the Century of Freedom and the XX century the Century of Equality, the XXI century can, must and will be the Century of Brotherhood.
And in Montebelli we experienced intense and touching moments of deep harmony, the harmony that engraves the word “Brotherhood” in the depths of the heart, carves it, chisels it, the harmony that makes “Brother” no longer a word but a way of being.
Absolute.
Eternal.
We know, we are not Brothers by saying it, we are Brothers by being it.
The Brotherhood demands attention, but it is not enough because attention can last a single moment.
Brotherhood demands interest, and yet it is not enough because interest can be fatuous.
Brotherhood demands care, not fleeting or superficial; it is a thought, a process, a project and a realization, it is past, present and future.
To have care is to deal with, to approach each other in Freedom; and to have care is to participate as equals in each other’s lives.
To care is to be open.
In this sense, my Brothers, our Confederation, which tonight from all the places around the Mediterranean reunites us in the Chain of Union, is an extraordinary possibility: we are privileged to have the richness of the looks and voices, the feelings and emotions of all the places around the Mediterranean.
Let us therefore tighten the knots in the carpet, so that the weft and the warp may be ordered and compacted: let us encourage meetings between Brothers and increase twinning between Lodges, so that each Brother may have a name, a face and a familiar and dear voice.
And may the thoughts of the Brothers circulate for today, and may their study be collected for tomorrow, so that in the intellectual search we do not always remain at the starting blocks and each one may treasure the thought of others and be a wealth for others: may the knots in the carpet be tightened, so that its design may become intelligible.
We have complex hearts, like our grandparents had and our children have and will have; and even though we are just passing through, we are Brothers.
Brothers. And as Brothers among Brothers we have gathered here in Montebelli and, as a good wish and a good omen that the time has finally come for our Works to regain Strength and Vigor, in the presence and in the name of all the Brothers from all the places around the Mediterranean, tonight we will walk together through the Labyrinth to get out of it together.
All of us, together and united in a Chain of Union.
Yesterday, today, tomorrow: and this is Freemasonry.
Take care of yourselves and of your dearest one. Take care of everyone.
So said I…
Antonio Cuomo
Grand Master
National Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Italy 1805
