“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20-21)
We see the love of God in Christ Jesus manifested here in His farewell to His disciples. Jesus presented His final words as a prayer. He asked for the Father to fill His disciples with courage and faith for they were about to be sorely tested primarily because of the His crucifixion but also in the long term because the world would persecute them for their faith. He prayed also for all who would believe in Him because of the message of the disciples, which includes us. He prayed that we might share the unity He has with the Father. This unity is one we share with all believers only through Christ our Lord. This unity demonstrates to the world the love that Jesus desires to share with all mankind, the love that all men seek and ache for, but cannot receive while they keep looking in the wrong places for it. It exists in the Church!
Jesus still intercedes for us with the Father. We pray to Him and Him alone for help and faith for ourselves, our families, neighbors and co-workers. As we persevere in our faith in Jesus we do so because of our union with Christ. This is because as High Priest Jesus offered not just a prayer. Like the priests in the Temple he offered a sacrifice that would make possible unity with God, the unity He had prayed for. His sacrifice was the ultimate atonement, the one that the Old Covenant sacrifices prefigured. The sacrifice was His body. His blood, not the blood of bulls or goats, was be poured out and sprinkled on the mercy seat for the sins of all mankind. This sacrifice was performed once for all time. Every time we partake of communion we share in its eternal blessings.