I have written about this topic before and was had a completely different take than Novalis on this subject. Please see my lengthy post here https://defendingvatican2.wordpress.com/2022/06/19/iron-ring-ceremony-should-a-catholic-attend/
I wont go into the details of the Iron Ring Ceremony again in this post. I do have a comment to make on the above article.
I am not judging intentions. I’m sure everyone means well, and the whole thing is a good idea but it lacks some perfection. Kipling was a Freemason through and through. I ask the reader to read the “Sons of Martha Poem” again. It casts the words of Christ in bad light. Jesus literally said Mary Chose the better part. Kipling then proceeds to make a tale about the woes of Martha’s sons because Mary’s sons got the better part. Now they have to work and toil while the Mary’s get the better lot. The underlining intention seems to be to be to argue that Martha’s work is more important than Mary’s, contrasting Christ’s own teaching. Can you imagine a Church Father making such a sermon? Read the last part of the poem. Does Jesus really cast the burdens of the world on Martha so Mary can be at his feet? Is that what the gospel message in these passages was about? After reading the poem do you feel inclined to follow Christ’s word or follow some work-like communistic state?
What about this part of the poem “Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed”. As Catholics we are meant to offer up all our daily tasks for the ‘creed’. If you are a Freemason the next line is suiting for your beliefs but not a Christian. “But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need.” The universal brotherhood indeed! Just asking for some more critical reading of the poem here.
It even quotes from the Gospel of Thomas “Raise ye the stone or cleave the wood to make a path more fair or flat.”
A society called the Seven Wardens which operates out of public eye runs an engineer only meeting written by a Freemason, using biblical words, which people “swear-obligate” to follow certain ethical rules while mentioning God. Seems like an oath, because it mentions God, using a poem that has bad biblical tastes. Not a good idea. Not to mention it comes from a time in society in Canada that was heavily anti-Catholic, especially in the professions (even Murdoc Mysteries catches this point as Murdoc never gets a promotion because he is Catholic). It may be fine for Protestants or Freemasonic Englishmen of the 1920s but not for Catholics of today. Kipling’s message leans away from the traditional Catholic understanding of the gospel texts about Martha and Mary. Again not judging intentions here, which are good, just wanting another critical reading of the poem.
Defending Vatican II 