The panicked heart of one man in the wee hours of Crucifixion Friday

The cold deserted night and a plain-spoken servant girl were enough to terrorize ‘the Rock.'  By the third go-around with her, Peter was spitting nails:

But he began to curse and to swear, saying, “I know not this man of whom ye speak.”
And the second time the cock crew.                  
                                                     (St. Mark’s Gospel, chapter 14)


Bishop Fulton Sheen:

"Saint Thomas Aquinas said that everything increases its motion as it nears its proper place or home.  Saints grow rapidly in charity; wicked men rot quickly.  We can see the truth of the point if we compare Peter and Judas…

"Why is one at the head of the list and the other at the bottom?  Because Peter repented unto the Lord, but Judas unto himself.  The difference was as vast as the difference between the Cross and the psychoanalytic couch.  Judas recognized that he had betrayed 'innocent blood,' but he never wanted to be washed clean in it.  Peter knew he had sinned and sought Redemption."

“O Jesu, gone so far apart
  Only my heart can follow Thee,
  That look which pierced Saint Peter’s heart
  Turn now on me.”
                            (Christina Rossetti)