"Hope is a gift and a task for every Christian. It is a gift because it is God who offers it to us. Hoping, in fact, is not a mere act of optimism, like when we sometimes hope to pass an exam at university…No, hoping is waiting for something that has already been given to us: salvation in God's eternal and infinite love. That love, that salvation that gives flavor to our lives and that constitutes the hinge on which the world remains standing, despite all the wickedness and nefariousness caused by our sins as men and women. To hope, then, is to welcome this gift that God offers us every day. To hope is to savor the wonder of being loved, sought, desired by a God who has not shut Himself away in His impenetrable heavens but has made Himself flesh and blood, history and days, to share our lot.”  Pope Francis

Without hope we have no reason to live. Without hope life is a drudgery. God gives us the gift of hope, the grace of hope, so that we would have something to keep our hearts rooted in as we seek to live a better life. Our hope is, as sons and daughters of God, if we continue to live in him and die in him, we will see and be with God eternally. That was the hope that impelled the thousands of missionaries to evangelize the world. It is the very hope and promise that motivated and strengthened the many men and women martyrs to remain faithful even to the point of death. This is the hope we need to keep alive in our hearts. His promises are true and will be fulfilled.