Thus, our walk on this earth never resolves into meaningless tiring or aimless wandering; On the contrary, every day, responding to our call, we try to take the possible steps towards a new world, where we live in peace, with justice and love. We are pilgrims of hope because we tend towards a better future and we are committed to building it along the way.
This is, ultimately, the purpose of every vocation: to become men and women of hope. As individuals and as a community, in the variety of charismas and ministries, we are all called to “give body and heart” to the hope of the Gospel in a world marked by epochal challenges: the threatening advance of a third world war in pieces. ; the multitudes of migrants fleeing their lands in search of a better future; the constant increase in the number of poor; the danger of irreversibly compromising the health of our planet. And to all this are added the difficulties that we encounter daily and that, at times, threaten to leave us in resignation or despondency.
In our time, it is therefore decisive that we Christians cultivate a perspective full of hope, to be able to work fruitfully, responding to the vocation that has been entrusted to us, at the service of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of love, justice and of peace. This hope – Saint Paul assures us – “will not be disappointed” (Rom 5:5), because it is the promise that the Lord Jesus has made to us to always remain with us and to involve us in the work of redemption that He wants to carry out. in the heart of each person and in the “heart” of creation. This hope finds its driving center in the Resurrection of Christ, which “entails a force of life that has penetrated the world. Where it seems that everything has died, everywhere the shoots of resurrection appear again. It is an unstoppable force. It is true that many times it seems that God does not exist: we see injustices, evils, indifference and cruelties that do not abate. But it is also true that in the midst of darkness something new always begins to sprout, which sooner or later produces fruit” (Ap. Exhort. Evangelii Gaudium, 276). Even the Apostle Paul affirms that “in hope” we “are saved” (Rom 8:24). The redemption carried out at Easter gives hope, a certain, secure hope, with which we can face the challenges of the present.
Being pilgrims of hope and builders of peace means, then, founding one’s existence on the rock of the resurrection of Christ, knowing that each commitment made, in the vocation that we have embraced and carry forward, does not fall on deaf ears. Despite failures and setbacks, the good we sow grows silently and nothing can separate us from the conclusive goal, which is the encounter with Christ and the joy of living in brotherhood among ourselves for all eternity. We must anticipate this final call every day, because the relationship of love with God and with our brothers and sisters begins from now on to realize God’s project, the dream of unity, peace and fraternity. Let no one feel excluded from this call! Each one of us, within our own possibilities, in our specific state of life can be, with the help of the Holy Spirit, a sower of hope and peace.