As we listen to Jesus making His last will and testament, it is clear that He does not see His upcoming death as a disaster.  Notice how His words, far from being fearful or desperate, deepen His relationship with His 'Abba'. His prayer, includes all those who share His light.  To them He bequeaths eternal bliss.   
 
Don't be misled by the phrase, 'He looked up to Heaven'.  Heaven is neither up nor down, what matters is that He opens Himself to the Sacred Presence who is present everywhere. For Jesus, praying is a relational  response,  not  an  attempt  to  make  contact.   Jesus  reveals  Gods'  name  and  through  this revelation allows Divine Life to flow into the world.  All who are already responding to God, hear Jesus and gravitate towards Him.  As they listen also to Him, He energises them to share His teaching with others.  Now their Mission is clear.  A new community is coming to birth.  His disciples will witness to this most clearly when they are One, as the Father and the Son are One. 
 
I wonder if it is important that we think about our own ending in  the  world.   None  of  us  are  here  for  a  long  time  and embracing  this  truth  can  be  very  liberating.   The  problem seems to be that in most instances, death chooses us.  Even if we have all our 'affairs' in order, death interrupts us.  Think of all the things that tie us to this life!  Will we ever be ready to let go?  But it does not matter. Even if we tell ourselves that the world couldn't possibly go on without us in it, or that it will be too difficult and we won't be able to do it, it happens anyway.   Walking  around  Easthampstead  Cemetery provides a great lesson on how easy it is to die.  Will we be able to say that we accomplished what we were sent to do? 
 
It might help us to remember that from every social point of view Jesus was a failure.  The so called religious authorities did  not  accept  Him,  or  His  message.   He  was  betrayed, denied  and  abandoned  by  those  who  should  have  known better.  He was executed with terrorists and mocked by soldiers, priests and his own community.  If we look at His death in this way, how can He claim that He accomplished anything? 
 
Perhaps, from a social point of view, everyone's death is a failure.  Even if we are propped up, pain free, surrounded by our trophies, applauded for our successes, with loved ones around us and leaving an abundant  inheritance,  we  still  die  incomplete.   Why?  because  who  we  really  are  cannot  be  found here.  On a social level, there is no good, never mind a perfect death. 
 
However, if we look through the Sacred Lens and do some radical reworking of how we see life and what counts as success, we might see more clearly.  From Jesus we hear that the whole point of you and me is to release Sacred Love into the world.  Every person is a beloved child of God.  We cannot believe that God is our Father and not believe we are all sisters and brothers.  When we activate and begin to frame ourselves in this spiritual identity, the hour of death starts to look very different. 
 
This prayer of Jesus is astonishing because it evaluates life from a consistent Godly perspective.  He steadfastly upholds the infinite preciousness of every person.  He speaks of a spiritual reality that lies hidden within us but which is harder to see when we are busy playing the game of life.  We are not on a mission, we are a mission of Love, meant to stir love in others.  When this happens, God is glorified, our work is accomplished, our life complete.  Could this possibly be true?

.​Love can bear temporary loss, but hearts break when the loss is final.  And just like the disciples in this week’s Gospel, we are not very good at endings.  Yet, Jesus, seems to think that the ending has been there since the beginning, and that every ending is a new beginning.  He talks of secrets hidden in the heart of death and of how His nearness to His Father in Heaven allows Him to be near to us.  For Jesus, the Fathers embrace is as wide as the universe, and in Love’s House, it seems, that there is room enough. 
 
There is a love that has no regrets.  There is a love that loves to breaking point.  But here's the thing - there is a love that is without end.  We touch this huge love when we are in the presence of Jesus and His Father.  It changes us. 
 
The Poet and Scholar, John O'Donoghue, wrote this Blessing 'for death' in his book, Benedictus p88.  Read it. Pray with it.  Enjoy it: 
 
From the moment you were born, 
Your death has walked beside you.                                               
 
Though it seldom shows its face, 
You still feel it's empty touch 
when fear invades your life, 
or what you love is lost, 
or inner damage is incurred. 
 
Yet, when destiny draws you 
into these spaces of poverty, 
and your heart stays generous 
until some door opens into the light, 
you are quietly befriending your death; 
So that you will have no need to fear 
when your time comes to turn and 
leave. 
 
That the silent presence of your death 
would call your life to attention, 
Wake you up to how scarce your time is 
And to the urgency to become free 
And equal to the call of your destiny. 
 
That you would gather yourself 
And decide carefully how you now can live 
The life you would love To look back on from your deathbed.

Even if it isn't always clear to us, the life that we are living has a huge impact on all the people around us.  The words that we speak, the silences we hold, our actions and our failure to act, send ripples of life or death through the community we are struggling to build.  As we stand, wherever we are standing on planet earth, the struggle for community must engage everything that we are.  Our sisters and brothers, whose lives are destroyed by the theft of the worlds resources and by the horrific actions of terrorists depend on us being faithful to the Good News.  Remember how Pilate stood the Beloved Son of God before His own and placed a terrorist whose name was Beloved Son of God (Bar Abbas) by his side and asked the people to give freedom to one? 
 
In today's Gospel, Jesus paints the same choice in stark colour.  Sadly,  there are some whose presence in the community is destructive.  They are like 'thieves' who steal by craft and deceit.  Worst still are the 'robbers' who steal with violence.  As they move through the community, the light fades a little.  They take things away from people, depriving them of resources they need.   Thieves and robbers always leave people less than when they found them. 
 
Good leaders, or shepherds, on the other hand, leave  people  more  than  when  they  found them.   They  can  do  this  because  they  have realised  that  the  personal  and  the  eternal  are one.   Everyone  is  known  by  their  name  and labels  are  disallowed.   The  voice  of  the  good shepherd resonates within them and within the inner world of the community.  What is more true, leaders walk ahead of the community bringing all to green pastures, to places where they can find strength and nourishment. 
 
Good shepherds are artists of relationships.  And passing through the 'gate' of Jesus they become life givers.  Notice how Jesus describes himself as this never-ending flow of life for others.   He  is  the  Bread  of  Life,  He  is  Living  Water,  He  is  the  True  Vine,  He  is  the Resurrection and the Life.  Each of these beautiful images speak of life flowing through him and entering others. 
 
In today's Gospel, this Good Shepherd, this Gate of the Community, states His Mission and Purpose so clearly that we have to hear it, believe it and make it our own.  'I have come so they may have life and have it to the full,' (Jn.10,10) 
 
As we consider the moments when we have awakened or enriched the life of another we can see that this has only happened because we passed through the gate of the heart of Jesus and Moved to build up the life of that sister or brother. I suppose the question remains, when we leave, are those we left more or are they less for our being there?