In Ecclesiastes, the preacher takes a long hard look at life. He judges everything to be vanity - fleeting, empty and meaningless. The temporal goods he acquires are transitory; the power and pleasures insufficient rewards for the toiling. He remains unsatisfied and unfulfilled. Without the perspective of eternity, he is unable to see beyond the impermanence of his earthly life and discover its divine purpose.

The same existential questions and unquenched human longings remain disconcerting today. Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, was incarcerated in four concentration camps. He was able to observe his fellow inmates' behaviours and attitudes living under brutal conditions and concluded that "those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'." Those who willed to survive were the ones who had a sense of purpose, meaning and direction in life and were willing to suffer for it.

The answer to Ecclesiastes' litany of misery and hopelessness is faith in Jesus Christ. "Behold, I make all things new." (Rev 21:5). How can we comprehend this newness? It begins at baptism. We are made adopted children of God and participate in the Trinitarian life of love and grace. In the Eucharist, Jesus heals us, nourishes our heart and spirit. In death our mortal bodies decay but He will raise us to eternal life to share eternal happiness with Him forever. Therein lies our Christian hope.