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A Free Gift |
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Music playing: "Message of Love" from Peter Mason's album Message of Love. "A free gift through
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A Free Gift - Peter Mason's Testimony |
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Jesus said, "I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already burning!" (Luke 12:49). The fire of God's love transformed my life from spiritual darkness to light, from drug addiction to freedom, from slavery to sin to new life in Christ, from giving my soul to Satan to opening my heart to Jesus. From a heavy metal rock musician living a wild life to a Christian recording artist striving to serve the Lord. This is my story. It was on September 28, 1962 that I came into this world. I have three brothers, Allan, Don and David, and one sister, Lorraine. My parents are Dr. Leslie and Freda Mason. My ancestry is Jewish, Polish, Norwegian, English and Canadian. I only know a few words in Polish that my mom used to scold us kids for misbehaving or being messy. My earliest memories are feeling a lot of love, warmth and excitement. I was baptized into the Catholic faith in St. Jude’s Church in Vancouver shortly after I was born. When I was a young child I recall taking the baby Jesus out of his crib from our Nativity scene, holding him in my hands and kissing him. I loved Jesus with a simple, pure love that I learned from my parents, especially my mother, who used to kneel down with me every night to pray with me. I attended St. Francis de Sales elementary school in Burnaby, B.C. I enjoyed going to the school masses and singing songs with all the other children. I received my first Holy Communion and Confirmation at St. Francis de Sales Parish. While I was in school I learned how to play the electric guitar and dreamed of becoming a rock star when I got older. My father used to work as a medical doctor for Whistler Mountain. Almost every weekend we would take the long, winding highway up to the scenic mountains to go skiing. There was a small chapel at the bottom of the Gondola run. We used to ski down the mountain on that run at the end of the day and go to church. Sometimes my parents would invite the priest, Fr. Scott, OMI, over for dinner. He would play his guitar and sing and tell us all sorts of amazing stories of his ministry with the First Nations people. I was greatly influenced by my brother David in his choice of music and having long hair. In grade 7, I was given a prize for having the longest hair (out of the boys) in the school! Once I closed a bus window and caught my hair in it and could not open the window! Someone eventually came to my rescue. The first album I bought was by Black Sabbath. I once brought it to school for "show and tell" along with my stereo! I cranked up the volume and blew away my elementary school class with Ozzy Ozbourne and his band. I started smoking pot in elementary school and getting drunk with my friends. My brother Don took me to see the horror movie "The Exorcist." It totally scared me and I was so fearful of the Devil that I could hardly sleep at night for a long time. I slowly became fascinated with Satan. I admired his power and I wanted to enjoy a wild lifestyle. When I was in grade 7 I gave my soul to Satan. I was fully aware of what I was doing. I figured that, since I enjoyed doing bad things, I might as well join the Devil's team. I would attend Sunday Mass with my family but I was not interested in it. Sometimes I broke out in laughter when I saw the priest holding up the Body of Christ and calling it the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Other times I would go outside or throw rolled up pieces of paper on the heads of the people below the balcony. I began to take an interest in the occult, using tarot cards, and oujia board and a mask of Satan. I painted my walls dark red, my ceiling black, and placed a poster of Satan with horns and a pitchfork and a wicked grimace. It took days of pestering my mother for permission to do this and she finally gave in. She bought the paint and the woman asked her, when she saw the colors, "what are you painting, a brothel?" Once I entered St. Thomas More High School I was busy playing with a band. I liked to wear my hair long and I would tell my mother, "Jesus had long hair. Moses had long hair." Those were the days of wild weekend parties, drinking and drugs. Once I drank so much and smoked so much pot that I began smashing beer bottles in a park in the presence of my friends. The police were called and all my friends were arrested. I escaped by running into the bushes, imagining I was an escaped convict running from the prison guards. I hid in a tree trunk for hours in the rain and crawled home on my hands and knees, as I was unable to walk. When I arrived home I looked in the mirror and my face was bloodied, my hair a mess and my clothing filthy. In an instant I thought about the sufferings of Jesus, even though I was not in a loving relationship with him at the time. I loved wild parties and once I got so drunk that I fell straight backwards and hit my head on a large wooden table, which knocked me unconscious. I woke up several hours later. Another time I stole some Gravol pills from my father's chest of medicine and overdosed on them. I felt like I was going to collapse and get sucked into the earth. Another party I was at was so wild that the police were called to break it up. I was escorted outside by an officer and told to stay away. Being the disobedient youth I was, I immediately went back into the party, where I was arrested and taken by police wagon to the local police station, where I spent the night in a cell with a few other partygoers. I managed to sneak home the next morning without my parents knowing about my escapades. Sometimes I would vandalize our neighbourhood, pouring purple paint down mail boxes, cutting branches off trees and strewing them all over the street, making a total mess of the local neighborhood. I loved to listen to Black Sabbath songs about the devil, and read horror books. I wasn't interested in prayer. I thought church was boring. I believed in God, but was not in the least interested in spiritual things. They just did not seem relevant to me. In grade 12 I switched to Burnaby South Senior Secondary because some of my friends did the same thing and there were girls there (STM was an all-boys school). It was during grade 12 that I joined another rock band called Tom Foolery. At one of our concerts in Vancouver I got so drunk with a girl in her car that I ended up driving the wrong way down a one-way street and slammed into a car crossing the street and wrapped it around a telephone pole. Amazingly, the police did not take a breathalyser test and I was not charged. |
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![]() Tom Foolery |
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After graduating I went on the road with a rock band named Roxcity. We were loud, heavy and loved to party. I used to have women jump on stage and grab me by the legs and hang on! Another time a fight broke out and a man was thrown through a window. Life on the road was wild. Once, after a gig, around 2 a.m. I watched a movie on television about the life of Jesus. It caused me to think about my spiritual life briefly. God was planting a seed. I ended up quitting Roxity while on the road and I flew home. I was getting worn out with the wild lifestyle on the road. I joined another couple of musicians and we formed Tyranny. The name aptly describes what life was like in the band sometimes. The band fell apart and I began to search for a purpose in my life. I wanted to know the meaning of my life. I had a girlfriend. Our relationship didn't have a spiritual aspect. We enjoyed parties, music and friends together. We had been going out for several months when one day I had a thought come into my mind: "I am a Catholic." I realized that in my life I had not lived as a Catholic Christian should and I felt guilty. After this event a search started: a search for meaning in my life. I slowly began to believe that God must have something to do with these feelings I had been having. One day in the month of May 1983, I was mowing our front lawn. At one point I sensed a strong presence: the presence of Jesus. I stopped the mower and listened interiorly. An image of Jesus knocking at a door appeared in my mind and I heard Jesus saying to me inside, "Peter, I am what you have been searching for. Open your heart to me and I will give you peace and a new life." I explained to the Lord that I was like the prodigal son, but that if he wanted me to I would open my heart to Him. So, I prayed a prayer to give my life to Jesus and accepting Him as my Lord and Savior and express sorrow for all my sins. |
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I received absolution and felt such a burden lifted off of me, a spiritual burden. I walked out of that church feeling like a new man. From that point on, I wanted to please God and do His will. I began to participate in Sunday Mass with attention and slowly started to go to weekday Mass, starting once a week and eventually working my way up to daily mass. I loved to pray after Mass, having just received Jesus in holy Communion. |
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My life was majorly transformed. I could hardly believe what was happening to me. I was filled with a joy I had never known before and a burning desire to share Jesus with everyone. I had a deep hunger for God in prayer and loved to begin the day with quiet prayer in my room, reading the Bible and the lives of the saints. God changed my focus from trying to be a rock star to trying to be a saint! (I'm still trying and I won't give up!) We are all called to be saints, which is simply a call to holiness. "Be holy, as I, the Lord your God am holy," God tells us. Everyone in heaven is a saint. God invites us to choose holiness every day, and not get discouraged when we fall. I joined the youth group and soon became one of the leaders. I also joined M2W2, which is a group that visits inmates in prison and befriends them. Another ministry I got involved in was the folk choir. It was here that I was able to develop my song writing skills and try out new songs with the choir. The first Christian song I wrote was called "How Can I Know You?" I also started to read the lives of the saints and became inspired to try to follow their example of loving God and others. I formed my own band and released a cassette. We played a showcase gig with record company representatives present. Chaos broke out and fights were breaking out all over the club. Someone even started to approach me in a violent manner. That night I reflected on this crazy experience and I decided I wanted out of the rock and roll business. The next day I called my band and told them it was over. I also called my manager and informed him. I sold all my musical instruments: 6 bass guitars, electric guitars, etc. because I wanted to be freed from all the negative associations I had with music. |
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After an initial period of inquiry and a year of novitiate I made my profession in the SFO. This was a very special day in my life. Now I was called to live a Franciscan spirituality, with an emphasis on simplicity, joy and love for the poor and all creatures on earth. Soon after I joined the Secular Franciscan Order I began pondering what God's will for my life was. Little old church ladies would sometimes come up to me and say, "you should be a priest." Once, the pastor of my parish asked me if I ever thought of becoming a priest. All these events caused me to reflect on the possibility that God was calling me to be a priest. |
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I went on a silent retreat at Westminster Abbey, a Benedictine Monastery in Mission, B.C., with the Secular Franciscan Order. During that retreat I spent some quiet time a small chapel underneath the seminary. I sat in one of the pews and simply placed myself in God's presence, seeking to know his will for my life. Jesus was present in the Bread of Life in the tabernacle. |
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I didn't realize that my life was about to take an unexpected turn. My worst nightmares were about to become reality. I was transferred to another parish. Here I encountered a great deal of suffering. I was being tested and purified. Eventually I was removed from this church and sent home. On one hand, I was relieved to be out of the situation. On the other hand, I was saddened by having to leave the parish. What followed was months of waiting, praying and hoping for a solution. At a certain point, I got involved with prayer ministry and encountered some people who were struggling with the reality of the influence of evil spirits in their lives. The combination of working with them and the pressure of not being in a parish eventually resulted an emotional breakdown. I had reached the end of my rope. |
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With the help of good counsellors, I was able to feel good again and eventually I was sent to another parish. Still, I occasionally struggled with some of the strange spiritual experiences that I had before. I worked at a few different parishes briefly, as well as two different hospitals as chaplain. I was sent to St. Edmund's parish in North Vancouver as a resident priest. There I celebrated daily Mass, preached, heard confessions, performed funerals and visited the sick and dying with holy communion. I also took part in a number of parish groups. Eventually I ended up celebrating Mass in a small chapel in Vancouver and working in the archives department for the Archdiocese of Vancouver. While it was good to celebrate Mass with people and preach God's word again, I was feeling unhappy with my general situation. I found archives work boring and not challenging enough.
I began a Christian band called Myztery. We recorded our first album, which was released in May of 2005. You can hear it on our website at www.myztery.net The Lord is opening up doors for us to share our Christian music through live concerts, which we have started to do. I received a call on November 4, 2005 from Fr. Mark Shwab, who works in the Chancery Office for the Archdiocese of Vancouver. I was asked to meet him. I knew it must have something to do with my petition for laicization. When I met him he informed me that the Holy Father has accepted my petition and is willing to grant me the laicization. All I had to do was read the letter from Rome and sign a document, and that complete the laicization process. To celebrate my new direction in life I went to a local pub and had a Guiness beer and smoked a cigar. I felt very happy and at peace. I continued recording our Myztery album at a studio in Vancouver. The laicization means that I am released of all my priestly duties and privileges. I am still called, as all Christians are, to proclaim the word of God by word and example, and I can administer the sacraments only in danger of death (Anointing of the Sick: confession, anointing, holy Communion). I am, ontologically speaking, still a priest: "You are a priest forever, like Melchizedek of old." I am still called to holiness. It was during one of our recording sessions that I met Cyndie Grozelle, who was brought in to help us with vocal harmonies. We hit it off and began dating and she also joined the band. Cyndie is a talented singer and keyboard player. She also plays bass, guitar and dances. She is also a talented songwriter. Cyndie has joined me in our ministry at I trust Jesus.com and our weekly ezine, Behind the Veil, as well as Myztery. She has been a real blessing in my life in many ways. Prior to my laicization I discerned God calling me to leave the Secular Francican Order, in order that I might follow a new spiritual path in something the Lord was calling me to continue developing: The Missionaries of Merciful Love, a lay spiritual movement (see www.mercifullove.com to learn more). I am currently waiting to hear back from Archbishop Roussin for approval of this vision of mine as a "private association of the faithful", which is the canonical term that would apply if granted. I have shared the free gift God gave me through his only Son Jesus Christ. Have you received the free gift God has for you? Open your heart to Jesus now. He will come in and share his love with you. His merciful love endures forever! |
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Copyright © 2004, Peter Mason. All rights reserved