Every wonder why our minutes show two dates: the current date (Anno Domini or “In the Year of our Lord”) and another, listed as “A.L.” some 4,000 years greater? So many Brothers overlook this piece of Masonic trivia. As always there may be more than one option lost in the hazy fog of history and tradition:

• Ernest Beha, via the Grand Lodge of Iowa(1), cites A.L. as standing for Anno Lucis, Latin for “In the Year of Light”. Stemming from Genesis 1:3 (“And God said let there be light: and there was light”(2)), the early beginning of the world was generally believed to be 4,000 years before the birth of the Lord.
• Bro. Mendoza3 provides a comprehensive history of the term. His history shows usage as early as 926 AD of “Anno Latomorum” or “In the Year of Stone Cutters”, or “In the Year of Masons”.
• The revered Dr. Albert Mackey(4) also cites Anno Lucis, as a philosophical myth tying the idea of masonic enlightenment to the creation of physical light at the creation of the universe (again a Genesis 1:3 link).
• The Constitution of Masonry, as adopted by the Grand Lodge of Virginia 1791 (5) does not mention the term “A.L.”.

So how to summarize the real meaning. Bro. Mendoza ends his 3,500-word discourse by concluding (rationally) that although the A.L. may have truely been used for “Anno Latomorum”, or “In the year of Masons”; it has been adopted by freemasonry from England in the more speculative version of “In the Year of Light” (Anno Lucis).

For Secretaries and Worshipful Masters dues hold an annual dual-sided promise:

• Resources. The annual swell of the coffers to last throughout the year, often a sigh of relief for Lodge purses getting all too thin, especially from fall,holiday,installation and new officer expenses.
• The Chase. For a very small number of Brothers, the start of a cycle of emails, requests, calls, formal letters, and on rare cases submission for suspension. 

As we approach the new year, I stopped to contemplate dues.  That Freemasonry requires dues on its face is nothing different than any other organization, such as Ruritan, Lions. Rotary Clubs and professional organizations. The responsibility from a member to the organization, to be split between local and national/state organizations. The baseline financial resources to pay the bills and routine operations. Yet, on a higher level there is more to it. 

Brother, let us contemplate the rough ashlar (also called rough hewn ashlar)–a crude stone carved from the earth upon which the Entered Apprentice (EA) would work to an imperfect cube, then to be made “perfect” by the Fellow Craft. This powerful masonic symbol represents the crude mind of man which, with stern contemplation and hard work may be made true for placement in that temple, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Justly, the work of the EA is not easy, nor is truing the rough form of the mind and passions of man. It reminds us that no matter how irregular and rough, with patience, the right tools, and skills we each may be made better. Within each there is the potential for perfection  carving away the vices, imperfections, and irregularities. Indeed, Michelango is quoted with the following: