Jail break!

A couple Sunday's ago, the first reading at Mass was the story of an angel leading a dazed St. Peter out of the jail where King Herod had imprisoned him (Acts 12:1-11). The selection ends with the angel leaving him in an alley where Peter recovers his senses. Too bad the selection committee didn't include the following eight verses, which describe:

• a funny scene in which Peter has made his way to the home of St. Mark's mother only to have a maid ("Rhoda") get so excited when she hears him at the gate that she runs inside to tell the others, at considerable length, that he's free -- all the while, leaving Peter stranded outside. (Aside: Who would have guessed that St. Mark's mother even had a maid?)
• and a considerably less humorous scene in which an angry Herod has the soldiers who had been guarding Peter (all 16 of them?) executed. Too bad the angel couldn't find time to help them.