Brothers near and far.
Since our Grand Master has taken a keen interest in the Ritual of Opening and Closing I thought that it might be a good time to provide some ideas that you may find useful.
First, know the right words. Listen to a knowledgeable brother and then go through the Blue Book to assure yourself that you can read the part accurately. Mark the words that you are not sure of so that you can ask and get them right.
Once you have the words right, read through the section you are working on and make sure you understand the thoughts being expressed. Then try to create a mental map of the flow of the part you are memorizing the same way you might visualize the route from one city to another.
Now learn to read each sentence from the book quickly, accurately and without hesitation. Do it out loud. Reading and speaking use different parts of the brain. As the sentences begin to come clearly, put them together into paragraphs.
Finally, assemble the paragraphs into the entire section. The time spent understanding meaning and flow that I mentioned earlier will help here. Try to find clues as to why one paragraph follows another, they are almost always linked.
I highly recommend the opening and closing Ritual for learning this process. We hear and perform these constantly and there are many small parts that logically link together.
One last thing, as you learn a piece of ritual, practice different parts. We have all seen a brother letter perfect at the beginning of a section while stumbling toward the end.
Our Masonic ritual is a wonderful teaching tool. It is the result of the efforts of multitudes of Brothers over the past 600 years. It is their sublime gift to us of knowledge, discipline and wisdom that we receive by hearing it, studying it and most of all practicing its teachings.
Hope to see you soon in Lodge.