The three main virtues of the Catholic church is Faith, Hope & Love taken directly from scripture in 1 Corinthians 13:13. We know what faith is and we know what Love is(well some of us anyway) but the one that is always forgotten is Hope. Without Hope your faith and love cannot continue, it is like the fuel that keeps both going.
But Hope is not just a religious thing, Hope is extended to our daily lives, the here and now. I'll give you some examples; We hope we have a good today or hope for a better day tomorrow, or we hope our children turn out to be decent citizens in this crazy world and make better decisions in life than we made, or we hope for the war to end, or hope that our flight to another country is a safe one and the pilot isn't drunk or hope that I get a promotion at work. Hope is an everyday thing used in the here and now and it is no different in scripture. But the thing is, do we actually believe in scripture, that's the key point. Is scripture particularly the new testament a fairytale or real? If it's a fairytale then fair enough, I totally understand that some have those views, but for some it's real.
So for those that believe that scripture is real then it's very hard to overlook the message of the new testament. The message is pretty much related to the here and now. How? Well in scripture there is no celebration of the resurrection without the crucifixion, there is no glory without pain, same way that there isn't a great HSC score for a student without intense study and sacrifice. Even forgiving someone that has caused you a great deal of harm is very hard to do, but we do know it is the right thing to do IF they have approached you and asked for forgiveness. Most true Christians can see the similarity between scripture and the here and now. The hope in scripture is the same hope used in our everyday lives. While some may try to run away from suffering(which is inevitable for everyone sooner or later), some will actually embrace suffering and unite it to Christ's suffering for the hope of our own resurrection.
There is this intimate bond between the cross, the epitome of the sufferings of Christ, and the suffering of the people which is a participation in the self-same cross. Thus participation in the cross through suffering is a way of obtaining grace, the power of God to participate in salvation. This is also why St Paul can say in Galatians: “Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world…Henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (6:14, 17).
Do we really believe in scripture? or is it a fairytale? This is and will always remain a sticking point.