Jesus foretells the death which Peter will one day suffer: he will be taken off as a prisoner to be crucified. As they stand, these words will not apply literally to each one of us.

Yet, as frequently in the Bible, even these words do, in some measure, have an application for all of us. As we grow older, we often become helpless and have to entrust ourselves into the more or less kindly hands of others - nurses who care for us in hospitals, doctors who strive to reduce our aches and pains, friends who push us around in wheelchairs and who make sure we take our medicines. Often we will have to be taken to places we would rather not go: emergency wards in hospitals, operating theatres, old people's homes, hospices.

Since Jesus spoke of Peter's death precisely as the Risen Lord and in the context where he had reconciled Peter to himself, he was obviously not threatening Peter with a terrifying end to his life. Beneath Jesus' words Peter must have sensed something of a promise: that he would die in union with Jesus. Hence in Masses offered for the sick we pray: "May all those who suffer pain, illness or disease realize that they are chosen to be saints."