Acts 12:12

And when he had considered the thing Rather, "when he comprehended it." At first he had been "like them that dream" (Psalms 126:1) at his deliverance from captivity, but at length his mind grasped the whole truth and he could act upon it.

Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark This Mary was sister to Barnabas, as we learn Colossians 4:10, where Mark is called sister's son to Barnabas. This relationship accounts for the way in which the uncle clung to his nephew, even when St Paul declined to have Mark as a companion on their second proposed missionary journey. We do not read of the father of Mark anywhere, so it is probable that Mary was a widow, and, like her brother, was possessed of means which enabled her to put a house, or a part thereof, at the service of the Church, as a meeting-place for prayer.

gathered together praying The Greek has "andpraying." The introduction of the conjunction seems to indicate not that this was a special or solitary occasion when the disciples were gathered at the house of Mary, but rather that this house was a place in which such gatherings were usual, and at the time when Peter was delivered such an assembly was there and making supplication (Acts 12:5) for his deliverance.