Luke is a great story teller. There is a dream-like quality about his account of Peter's escape from prison. Obstacle after obstacle is overcome, door after door is opened until Peter finds himself, somewhat bewildered, standing in the alley outside the prison. Quickly he recovered his senses, gave praise to God for having rescued him and, having been helped by God, now helped himself. He quickly completed his escape after first speaking briefly to his fellow disciples. The promise made to him in today's Gospel had indeed been kept.

Paul, no less than Peter, was rescued from many dangers. He was so protected by God that he was left free to do great work for the spread of the Gospel. Near the end of his apostolic ministry he is as full of hope and courage as he was at the beginning.

As we look back at our lives we may notice a certain dream like quality about them too. We may not have had to experience the dangers and trials that Peter and Paul had to face but we have our share of difficulties too. And yet here we are, a little bloodied but still willing to keep on going and maybe a little surprised that we, too, have done some of the Lord's work at least some of the time. With Cardinal Newman we can ask the Lord to lead us on with his kindly light.