Today’s Gospel is set in the context of Jesus’ last words to his disciples the night before he died.  Here Jesus is speaking not only to the disciples, but to the heavenly Father.  In his prayer, Jesus asks that his followers be united as one, more specifically, as he and the Father are one. The unity of his followers will give witness to the world that the Jesus in whom they believe, and whose teachings they follow, was indeed sent by the Father.  The unity of the Father and the Son, the love between the Father and the Son – this is the same unity and love that Jesus prays will be the experience and the witness of all who believe in him.