We are living a Jubilee year and the Lenten season; both contexts help us to think about our pilgrimage towards God. We are pilgrims of hope and we are walking in hope; this is the invitation that Pope Francis is making to us.
Pilgrimage and/or walk, two verbs that are similar but have their nuances from a theological point of view, because every human being is a pilgrim and a walker. For us, believers, this walking and pilgrimage have their point of arrival 
and, in addition, a common denominator that would be the engine: hope. Because, if we walk or go on pilgrimage without it, we can surely get tired or deviate from the path. Besides, walking and pilgrimage evoke dynamism, not the static. That is why we are: walking or on pilgrimage, we are in motion. This refers to a continuous and persistent action, which does not tire or stop, which entails patience and fidelity.
All of us who believe in God know that hope is not a virtue that we can obtain through our own efforts or attitudes, but that it is a theological virtue. This means that it is not our voluntarism, but a gift that we have to receive from God. Therefore, each one, with his freedom, has the possibility of accepting or not this gift of God, but, even so, God gives it to all of us; it only remains for man to receive it.
Hope, as a gift from God, is not situated here on earth, in time, but in God himself. What will happen in man is that it will be configured in his way of living, since, without hope, our journey would be a journey without a final destination. We would no longer be pilgrims with a goal, but dispersed wanderers.
St. Paul used the expression: “In hope we have been saved” (Rom 8:24). By this he indicates to us that total salvation is, above all, in the goal, and not so much in the way and the effort of man.
St. Paul used the expression: “In hope we have been saved” (Rom 8:24). By this he indicates to us that total salvation is, above all, in the goal, and not so much in the way and the effort of man. What hope does in this journey is to give us strength and light for the road, and it motivates us to keep walking because the goal is certain. What happens is that we humans prefer the broad road, the easiest one, where we do not have to wait for anything, but we want everything immediately; it is hard for us to wait. Today’s man lacks daily patience, which is not a passive waiting or a waiting sitting with arms folded, but an active waiting, which should lead us to action and generate life. In reality, hope is a term that implies action, that implies life.
To go far, that is, to reach the goal, we must take one step after another, every day, and we must do it with hopeful spirit. Therefore, in order not to stop walking or going on pilgrimage, we really need hope, because it will not let us down. As Pope Francis affirms:
“Hope is something else, it is not optimism. Hope is a gift, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit and this is why Paul will say: ‘It never disappoints’. Hope never disappoints, why? Because it is a gift given to us by the Holy Spirit.”
“Walking in hope” means that, even if many things collapse, the essential will remain standing and that we can be sure of the final victory. Therefore, it is up to us to keep walking and to keep hoping, so as not to disconnect ourselves from the path and to keep hoping in God, who always waits for us with open arms.
In short, to walk in hope is to place our trust always in God, to fix our eyes on the Lord and wait for his love. God also expects us not to stop looking to him and not to lose our way, but to always count on him to reach a safe harbor, the final goal, the Lord’s Passover.