The last section of the document in relation to the Holy Year is entitled: Anchored in hope. In the first paragraph of it, he looks at the fact that hope is one of the three great theological virtues — faith, hope and love. All three are united and each have a role. Hope, Pope Francis says, ‘is the virtue that…gives inward direction and purpose to the life of believers.’ Direction and purpose — without direction and purpose we would, basically, be going nowhere without any reason, spiritually.
18. Hope, together with faith and charity, makes up the triptych of the “theological virtues” that express the heart of the Christian life (cf. 1 Cor 13:13; 1 Thess 1:3). In their inseparable unity, hope is the virtue that, so to speak, gives inward direction and purpose to the life of believers. For this reason, the Apostle Paul encourages us to “rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, and persevere in prayer” (Rom 12:12). Surely we need to “abound in hope” (cf. Rom 15:13), so that we may bear credible and attractive witness to the faith and love that dwell in our hearts; that our faith may be joyful and our charity enthusiastic; and that each of us may be able to offer a smile, a small gesture of friendship, a kind look, a ready ear, a good deed, in the knowledge that, in the Spirit of Jesus, these can become, for those who receive them, rich seeds of hope. Yet what is the basis of our hope? To understand this, let us stop and reflect on “the reasons for our hope” (cf. I Pet 3:15).