As Masons always have, each of us can serve a cause greater than ourselves.

I think of the men and women, the firefighters and police officers, climbing those fiery stairs in the crumbling World Trade Center towers. Somehow, the image merges with the men in the Middle Ages climbing swaying wooden ladders and scaffolds while carrying large blocks of stone to heights no one had dared try to reach before. Today's firefighters and police officers climbed to save the lives of their fellowmen and women; the medieval craftsmen climbed to build to the glory of God. But both climbed, at immediate risk of life, to do something bigger than themselves. Blessed are the risk-takers.

Blessed are the heroes and heroines who risk their lives, or their fortunes, or their futures, or their reputations, or their chances for advancement for some vision of a greater cause. Without them we would still be crouching in caves, fearing the night. Great heroes are always risk-takers.

John Wycliffe risked everything to make the first translation of the Bible into English. The hatred he created followed him even after his death, but he followed his vision of the Volume of the Sacred Law in a language people could read and understand.

William Harvey risked his professional reputation as a medical doctor because of his belief that blood circulated in the body. He was held up to contempt, but his discovery made modern medicine possible.

The Founding Fathers of our nation quite literally risked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor when they declared America's independence from England.

Pasteur risked both his health and his reputation to prove that there were such things as germs and that we could protect ourselves against them.

Alfred Wegener was nearly dismissed from his post for suggesting that the Earth's continents moved about on great tectonic plates. He was called a deluded fool and a quack. But his risk-taking provides us with an understanding of earthquakes and volcanoes, and it gives hope of predicting disasters, which could otherwise kill tens of thousands.

We do not know all the names of the men and women who have taken risks and benefited the world. But we live better, richer, and longer lives because they took risks.

In this special "Masonic Heroes" issue of the Scottish Rite Journal, you will meet some of those risk-takers, some of the Masons who have risked their lives in combat, or their reputations in discovery, or their security and comfort by pursuing a noble cause. We are honored to honor them. They are blessed, for they have given blessings to each of us.