The whole chapter of John 17 is one long prayer directed by Jesus to the Father. It is a prayer said for believers present and future. The passage in the Gospel reading contains the prayer of Jesus for future disciples.

Jesus prays for one central gift, that is, the unity of all disciples, a unity that finds its source in the unity of the Father and Son: "Father, may they be one in us, as You are in Me and I am in You, so that the world may believe it was You who sent Me." It is only through the witness of such loving unity that the mission of Christians can be compelling, and the world will believe in Jesus.

It is also a unity rooted in love, the love of the Father and the Son that is given to all disciples. Throughout the prayer, Jesus calls for the Church to become a community of love. A living sign of the mutual love between the Father and the Son. In contrast to the unity and love shown by Christians is the disbelief and hatred of the "world", which are contradictory to what Christian living should be.

Where the loving unity of the disciples is found, there Jesus will be found too. Therefore, like Saint Paul, the life and mission of the Christian disciple is to reveal and communicate the unity and love shared by the Father and the Son so that the world may believe and know that the risen Jesus is the Saviour of the world.