Today’s Gospel begins with the prayer Jesus says to his Father for all those who would be his followers. Jesus prays this prayer on the night before he is to die. He has no regrets. He knows he has done the work his Father gave him to do: to make his Father known among the people of his day.

Paul in the first reading also looks back over his life. He is about to set off from Ephesus for Jerusalem, where he knows will be the beginning of the end for him. He harbors no regrets about this life. He has made use of all the opportunities God had given to him to make the name of Jesus known among the Gentiles. He has fulfilled the mission given him by the Lord.

The difference between Jesus and Paul is perhaps the difference between the saints and the rest of us. We miss the opportunities the Lord gives us by always living in the future. “Tomorrow I will get down to doing something about my spiritual life.” “Tomorrow I will reconcile with those who have hurt me.” “Tomorrow I will start giving more time to my family.”

As we get older, most of us discover and recall lost opportunities. The one consolation we have is that it was the Lord Jesus who said, excusing the weariness of his apostles, “The spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.” But will it not be unfortunate if we will have to go empty-handed into the presence of so loving and understanding a Lord?