This is the final day of the liturgical year (tomorrow we begin Advent), and the reading from the Book of Revelation presents the final scene of human history, the new Jerusalem, our heavenly home. And yet this final scene calls us back to two beginnings: the beginning of the human race and the beginning of our individual lives as Christians.

In the Book of Genesis the first man and woman, representing all of us, were forbidden to eat of the tree of life. By breaking this commandment Adam and Eve pushed God out of their lives and in effect tried to make gods of themselves. The result was catastrophe, and death entered our world. Paradoxically in the heavenly Jerusalem not one, but twelve trees of life grow luxuriously. Adam and Eve drew a curse upon the race, but in the heavenly Jerusalem "nothing deserving a curse shall be found". All the faithful are invited to eat of the fruit of these trees, which bear fruit in turn every month, a symbol of never ending life with God.

Also in heaven flows the river of life giving water. This image should remind us of the water of baptism, the beginning of our lives as Christians. The water of baptism is usually little more than a trickle but the water in heaven is a river which flows down the middle of the streets. The abundance of water in this image is a symbol of the fullness of life in heaven.

Today's reading wishes to make us realize that heaven means the removal of all that is evil in life and a multiplication of all that is good.