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Have you ever noticed how close the “S” key is to the “W” key on a keyboard? A small mistake can turn “What Would Jesus Do?” into “What Should Jesus Do?” That mistake captures something important in this Sunday’s Gospel. Last week, Simon Peter correctly proclaimed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. This week, however, Peter tries to tell Jesus what he should do. When Jesus announces that he must suffer, die, and rise again, Peter objects: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”

Jesus’ response may seem harsh, at first: “”Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Is Peter literally Satan? Of course not. Yet, just as Satan tempted Jesus to set up an earthly kingdom, rather than to suffer and die for our salvation, Peter is effectively trying to dissuade Jesus from his true mission. But unlike Satan, Peter is a disciple, and he needs to return to following Jesus, to stop trying to lead Jesus. Thus, Peter is to “get behind” Jesus, as in return to following Jesus, even to the cross.

Beneath St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome lies one of Christianity’s most fascinating archaeological discoveries: a first-century necropolis and, according to the Catholic Church, the tomb of St. Peter, the apostle and first Pope. Excavated in the 1940s—even during World War II and the Nazi occupation of Rome—the site can still be visited today through the Vatican’s Scavi tour. Above it stands the basilica’s main altar, built directly over Peter’s tomb. The Catholic Church really is built on top of St. Peter!

But why Peter? When Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah,” explaining that this truth had been revealed to him by God. Then Jesus gave Simon a new name: “You are Πέτρος and upon this rock I will build my church.”

The Greek word Πέτρος (Petros) is literally the word for “rock,” and is translated into English as “Peter.” Peter eventually went to Rome, where he became the leader of the Christian community and was martyred. His successors, as bishops of Rome, came to be understood as successors to Peter.

Jesus also gave Peter “the keys to the kingdom of heaven,” granting him a unique responsibility to teach, govern, and preserve the Church’s unity. Those keys refer to the power and authority of the official representative of the king in Israel.

Was Jesus in a bad mood? In today’s Gospel, a Canaanite woman comes to Jesus asking him to heal her daughter. At first, his response seems surprisingly harsh: “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” That sounds pretty tough, doesn’t it? But Jesus is not being cruel. He is teaching something much deeper about faith, salvation, and the relationship between Jews and Gentiles.

We sometimes forget something fundamental about our Catholic faith: Jesus was Jewish. So were Mary and Joseph. So were the apostles. In fact, the earliest members of the Church were Jewish. Since we as Catholics speak of Mary being our spiritual mother, we might say that we have a Jewish mother.

Through Mary, Jesus came into the world, and through Jesus, salvation was offered first to the Jewish people and then to all humanity.

The Old Testament tells the story of God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants, the people of Israel. God did not abandon that covenant. As St. Paul says, “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.” The Jewish people therefore remain a people beloved by God.

There is something very peculiar in today’s Gospel story. No, it’s not the miracle of walking on water. Compared to raising Lazarus from the dead, walking on water almost seems ordinary. Nor is it about Peter stepping out of the boat and having an extraordinary test of faith only to be saved from sinking. The detail is much simpler: Jesus prayed.

Years ago, an intrepid eighth grader asked a priest, “If Jesus is God, and Jesus prayed, to whom was He speaking?” It is a wonderful question. Jesus is fully God, but He is also fully human. In His humanity, He is like us in every way except sin. And in His humanity, Jesus needed to pray.

Prayer is about relationship. Jesus had a perfect relationship with God the Father, and that relationship was nourished through prayer. The Gospels repeatedly show Him withdrawing from the crowds, climbing a mountain, and spending long stretches of time alone with His Father. He prayed before choosing the apostles, before His Passion, and throughout His public ministry.

If the sinless Son of God needed regular prayer, how much more do we?

Every healthy relationship requires genuine communication. Imagine someone claiming to have a wonderful marriage because they speak to their spouse for only two minutes each day and when they do, every conversation is a list of requests and complaints. We would hardly call that a thriving relationship. Yet many of us have that type of prayer life.

Have you ever noticed that we are never completely satisfied? This idea appears everywhere in our culture. The Rolling Stones famously sang, “I can’t get no satisfaction,” while U2 admitted, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” Advertisements build entire campaigns around this same truth, convincing us that the next car, phone, or product will finally make us happy. Yet no earthly possession can satisfy the deepest longing of the human heart because we were created for something greater—we were created for God.

Similarly, we are all hungry, though not simply for food. Our hunger is much deeper. Consider how many people continue eating long after they have received enough nourishment. We often consume more than we need because we are trying to fill an emptiness that food cannot satisfy. The reason is simple: our hunger is ultimately for God. As St. Augustine wrote in his Confessions, “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.”

If you were Aladdin and a genie granted you one wish, for what would you ask?

Of course, we don’t believe in genies or magic lamps. But we do believe in God, and we do pray. So if God guaranteed one, and only one, request, for what would you ask?

Perhaps asking for the miraculous healing of a loved one, who is sick, would not be the best choice. That may sound harsh but consider Lazarus. Jesus raised him from the dead—a stunning miracle. Yet Lazarus eventually died again. Every earthly healing is temporary because death still comes for us all.

King Solomon faced a similar question when God said, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.” Solomon did not ask for wealth, power, or a long life. He asked for wisdom to serve God well, and God praised his request.

Too often we treat God like a genie, asking Him to grant our wishes. But God’s greatest desire is not simply to make this life more comfortable. His greatest desire is our salvation.

That is why, if we have one guaranteed request, we should ask for the salvation of those we love —as well as our own.

Everyone seems to have an opinion about what’s wrong with the Church—and usually an opinion about how to fix it. Someone once asked Mother Teresa that very question. Her answer was simple:

“I am.” As holy as she was, she still recognized that she was a sinner in need of God’s grace. She understood that renewal in the Church begins with personal conversion. That insight helps us understand today’s Gospel.

In the parable of the sower, the farmer scatters seed everywhere: on the path, among rocks, into thorns, and onto rich soil. He seems either reckless or extraordinarily generous. Of course, Jesus is describing God’s generosity. In Baptism, God freely plants the seed of Christ, the Word, in our hearts. We become adopted sons and daughters of the Father, filled with the Holy Spirit, and cleansed of sin. However, Baptism is not the end of the journey; it is the beginning. God’s goal is to transform us into the image of Christ.

Sigmund Freud generally thought that belief in God was a projection of one’s need and desire for love, protection, and so on onto the cosmos in the image of one’s father. While God is real, and in fact more real than we are, for many people Freud was in a way correct. Many people do construct their own image of God which is just a larger version of themselves or a projection of what they think God should be. They don’t know the real God. That is why the Bible presents God as being very different, very “other.” In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word kadosh (which we translate as “holy”) means “set apart,” “distinct,” or “other.” To say that God is “holy” is to say that He is unlike anything else in creation. His thoughts, His ways, and His love are far beyond our own.

While we can know that God exists, and know things about him from his creation, at the same time we need God to reveal himself to us if we are going to truly know him. In the Gospel, Jesus says, “No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” Christ is the perfect revelation of the Father.

What does God want from us? Many people would answer that God wants us to attend Mass on Sunday, pray every day, and give to the poor. These things are certainly important, but they do not capture the full picture. What God ultimately wants is everything. He wants our whole lives because love requires nothing less.

Imagine a man telling a woman, “I love you so much. I want to be with you 99% of the time.” At first this sounds wonderful, but then she asks, “Why not 100%?” He replies, “The other 1% is for another woman.” No loving spouse would accept that arrangement. Love demands total commitment. To truly love someone means giving yourself completely.

The same principle applies to our relationship with God. We are called to love our neighbors, especially those closest to us. Christian love (the word in the New Testament is agape) means seeking the good of another and even sacrificing for them, as Christ did on the Cross. Yet there is a hierarchy to love. If a mother has only enough money to feed either her children or a stranger, she should feed her children first because she has the greatest responsibility toward them. Our love radiates outward like concentric circles, beginning with those closest to us.