The Peter who is given the extraordinary power to "bind and loose"-so much so that what he binds and looses on earth is considered bound and loosed in heaven-appears for the first time in today's readings bound to himself. He is bound with two chains in a prison, "to the custody of four pickets of four soldiers each.". However, we later learned that "the Church prayed insistently to God for him.". The Acts of the Apostles later informs us that, after his release, Peter went to a Christian house where "there were many gathered in prayer".
Peter will be delivered by an angel. With just a word from this messenger of God, "the chains fell out of his hands".. The two then pass several guard posts that do not seem to notice them, and finally the iron gate of the city. "he opened himself up to them". There is no doubt that Peter, every Pope, enjoys special protection from God and that what Peter says is inspired - to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the context - by the Father in heaven: "Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonah, for this hath not flesh and blood revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.".
However, this same Peter may be subject to bonds, which are not only the bonds of earthly rulers, but also the bonds of his own personal weaknesses. And so the New Testament clearly shows us Peter's limitations: his impetuosity, the cowardice that caused him to deny Jesus three times, and the earthly vision that led him to try to dissuade Jesus from going to the Cross and for which, a few minutes after receiving the gift of the papal primacy, Jesus called him "Satan!".
Therefore, for Peter to be able to bind and loose properly, he needs the prayers of Christians to free him from all those factors that could bind him: political pressures, possible bad advisors at times, his own shortcomings, and much more. Our prayers help to free the Pope from the chains that could bind him.
The Paul we hear in today's second reading is also in chains (see 2 Tim 1:16) and we learn from this text that his martyrdom is imminent. "For I am about to be poured out in libation and the time of my departure is imminent.". The dynamic apostle ends his extraordinary career chained and bound, but this is also part of his testimony. It is a good lesson to learn: we can serve Christ by our limitations as well as by our activity if, like Paul, we remain faithful and wait with him for the heavenly reward.
