Personal Charity: the brother at the door

The published Masonic obligation distinguishes a brother who is distressed worthily (through misfortune, illness, sudden need) from one whose distress is the predictable outcome of choices he is not yet willing to change. Mackey is explicit: "worthy" does not mean morally perfect; it means the brother is not using the appeal to underwrite a pattern that won't end. The discipline is not gatekeeping; it is honesty about what kind of help actually helps.