On this last day of the liturgical year, the first reading indirectly invites us to look back over the year, for the trees of life produce fruit twelve times a year once each month. These trees grow beside the river of life, so that John's Apocalypse ends with a meditation on life. Then, too, he speaks about light, a light which comes from the Lord our God.

We are accustomed with these themes from the Gospel of John: the water of life, which Jesus gives us as a spring within our hearts, welling up to eternal life; Jesus himself came to us as the light of the world. John also affirms the truth and value of his prophetic message: "These words are trustworthy and true." Jesus has taught us: "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life" (Jn 6:53).

In the garden of Paradise there was a tree of life but God expelled Adam and Eve from the garden lest they eat its fruit and "live for ever" (Gen 3:22-23). Jesus has cancelled that prohibition.