Word will prevail

The Lectionary of the Roman Catholic Church today selects texts to commemorate the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. The history of the Church shows that during the ministry and service of these men the Word was spread and the Church emerged as the organization of believers living in relationship with Jesus, Son of the Living God. The passage from Acts tells of the escape of Peter from imprisonment in Jerusalem at the hands of Herod, son of Herod the Great. The destiny of Peter was to lead the Church to Rome, the centre of the empire and to confront the secular power with the Power of the Word. The protection of Peter is not from death. The protection, as Friar Jude Winlkler explains, was to fulfill the will of God that Peter witness to Jesus as a martyr in Rome.
The passage from the Gospel of Matthew ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWf-h2BLzOA) is set near an ancient pagan shine near the source of the Jordan River and Jesus asks the question answered by Peter which reflects the inspiration of Peter by the Father and the choice of those who follow Jesus to be set against the forces of pagan life. The passage which Friar Jude says is important in placing rabbinical authority, the power to indicate what is Christian life, in the position of Peter. The person of Peter has already died at the time this passage was written. The text from the Second Letter to Timothy is part of the pastoral epistles and was written by a disciple of Paul as a kind of last will and testament. The witness of Paul to Life in relationship with the Risen Jesus consumed hiim. It is the fire which Fr Robert Barron describes in Catholicism ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qUW7IxapdU ) that launched the Word to the world. Following the Way completely as modeled by Peter and Paul is Life that produces fruit that lasts.