Does life have meaning?

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Does life have any meaning? When things in life are going well and we are happy and content, the question of the purpose and the meaning of life really doesn’t matter. But this particular needling question does pop up when we hit a crisis, a season of depression or a time of change. Both during youth and old age, the question of life’s purpose and meaning becomes particularly relevant, but for different reasons. With an infinite future ahead and limitless possibilities and choices, the youth wonders what the purpose of his life is and what he should do – get married and raise a family, seek further education and a professional career, get a good-paying job, or a billion other options. The older person who is retired, perhaps widowed, watching friends and family die all around him, also wonders what the purpose and meaning of life is – but for a very different reason than the youth. Choices become more limited. Those things that used to give life purpose and meaning seem to be slipping away.

So what is the real purpose and meaning of life? Is it to make a lot of money and be successful? Is it to marry and raise a family? Is it to obtain lots of material possessions – fancy car, big house, a fat bank account? Is it to make lots of friends, be popular and socialise? But, is that all? Is there no greater meaning or purpose to this amazing gift of life? For some, maybe these sources of meaning and purpose are enough—even if they don’t quite fulfill. Why? Because there is something very deep within us that says there is more to life than any of these, that there is something very great and meaningful that we are here for. But what is that purpose?

Sigmund Freud said it bluntly, and he is right: “… only religion can answer the question of the purpose of life.” The Second Vatican Council also expressed something similar in the first paragraph of its Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate): “Men expect from the various religions answers to the unsolved riddles of the human condition, which today, even as in former times, deeply stir the hearts of men: What is man? What is the meaning, the aim of our life? What is moral good, what is sin? Whence suffering and what purpose does it serve? Which is the road to true happiness? What are death, judgment and retribution after death? What, finally, is that ultimate inexpressible mystery which encompasses our existence: whence do we come, and where are we going?” This Sunday’s first reading from Ecclesiastes also seeks to find an answer to these fundamental questions.

Ecclesiastes sets up the whole book as a kind of experiment, in which he searches for the meaning of life through a series of projects. He starts off searching for wisdom, but decides in the end that, “in wisdom is much vexation” (1:18). Then he moves on to pleasure and tries to find meaning in life by satisfying all of his base desires, but again “all was vanity and a striving after wind” (2:11). And then he turns to the third option, finding happiness in one’s labour, one’s achievements and even here he judges it as mere vanity. By this point, the author has already exhausted three possible routes to happiness, meaning and fulfillment: knowledge, pleasure and work. The gospel throws in a fourth option, wealth, and you have a “winning” or “losing” formula”: “Vanity of vanities. All is vanity!”

Now, the meaning of “vanity” has changed over the centuries. For the modern man, vanity is synonymous to narcissism and excessive pride, both pervasive problems of our age. But the word “vanity” in this context has a different meaning. “Vanity” translated from the Hebrew hebel, which means “vapour” or “breath.” Of course the word is used here in a densely metaphorical sense, causing translators throughout the ages to struggle to capture the proper sense of the claim that all things are ‘fleeting’, ‘empty’, ‘futile’, ‘vain’, ‘absurd,’ or ‘meaningless’. So a modern rendering may sound like this, “Meaningless, meaningless! Everything is meaningless!”  All of this may seem depressing and fatalistic but it is notable that the Book of Ecclesiastes ends by urging the reader to place his trust in God as the only Eternal Being.

True, there is a widespread hunger for religion and various forms of spiritualities. This is evidence of the abiding human need to find meaning. But too often these “spiritual” solutions often prove to be either fraudulent or as fragile as the options the world offers – knowledge, pleasure, work and possessions – they all end in futility. In contrast, St Paul in the second reading points us to a vision of human reality based on Christ. We were buried with Christ in baptism, and raised with Him through faith in the power of God. Since we have been raised with Christ, we should “look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is sitting at God’s right hand.”  Of course, St Paul is not saying that we should become angels. That is not possible. But our present existence should be seen and lived in the light of 'heaven, where Christ is'.

Why is this heavenly perspective so crucially important, you might ask? This is because meaning is experienced as fulfillment. In other words, one who lives a meaningful life—i.e., a life which seeks to fulfill its purpose—is one who is fulfilled. And the fulfillment of a life well-lived is integral to our arriving at our destined end. What is our destined end? The answer to the second question of the Penny Catechism tells us: “We were made to know God, to love Him, to serve Him and be with Him in Paradise forever.” Every human being is destined for glory – we were created to be with Him in Paradise forever. Heaven is our destiny and therefore heaven is what ultimately gives life meaning.

Finally, the parable in our gospel today provides us with a stark and well needed reminder: If this world is all there is, then you will be disappointed. If you live in pursuit of the things of this world in an attempt to satisfy the longing of your soul, then you will die empty. Whatever you possess, you acquire, you achieve in this life, you would not be able to carry into the next. You see - the things of this world were never intended to ultimately satisfy. While their pleasures provide momentary satisfaction, in the end, you will be left wanting more. The things of this world are designed to point you to God and seek Him. This is because only God can truly satisfy. Life pursued apart from God is as futile as trying to catch the wind in a cup.

At the end of the day, when we do not place our priorities in their proper order, life starts to lose its meaning. Life is no longer a joy to live. Everything seem chaotic and meaningless. But when our life is in God’s order, life is a joyous adventure! Our Lord tells us that this is the proper order, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” What’s the first thing? God. What is the second thing? Everything else. It is important not to get the two confused. Because when God becomes the second thing, and other priorities become the first thing, we lose God, and then our lives get lost in meaningless living.

But when the Lord takes first place in our hearts, we will find that life is far from the meaninglessness. Instead, we discover in God that we are made for a beautiful eternal communion, the ultimate fulfillment of our nature, our purpose, our destiny. We now understand what St Teresa of Avila is trying to remind us,

“Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you,

All things are passing away:

God never changes.

Patience obtains all things

Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.”