Hope is what gives people direction, Archbishop of Malta Charles Scicluna said as he delivered his homily during a Mass on the occasion of the feast of St Paul's Shipwreck on Monday.

The Archbishop said that hope in St Paul is, first and foremost, a direction given to life. He continued that if one chooses God, then they were given the gift of hope in Him through baptism. "With our baptism, we are given these spiritual gifts, those of faith, hope, and love. However, this hope needs to become a lifestyle," he stated.

"The foundation is faith," he commented, "the concrete way in which you live it is love, but hope is what gives you direction."

The Archbishop said that the Maltese people are a people of a good heart, who welcomed St Paul and the passengers of the ship and showed what humanity meant.

He continued that after so many years of having met St Paul, "may it be that we do not lose the original decency of the first inhabitants of this island".

The Archbishop said that in the journey towards Malta, there is an expression used in the Acts of the Apostles. During the tempest, it is written that Paul intervened and urged the other passengers not to be afraid as he was given courage, and so he encouraged his friends.

"I pose this question to the Malta of today, to each and every one of us... What are we going to do? We who met with the Lord because Paul introduced us to him. What will we do with our lives, with our culture, our country?"

He said that those who believe in the Lord obtain the land. "Let us say that the word land here is progress, beneficiaries, those who believe in the Lord... If you believe in the Lord, he is the guarantee of your dignity, your true progress, your true wealth."

He continued that when one says that they rejoice with hope, they are saying that they rejoice with Jesus, not with themselves or how exceptional they are.

"We need this hope because we have not arrived yet, we are pilgrims. In our walk of life, we need this hope as it provides us direction... And we ask ourselves, where do we want to go? Our choices as a society and in our personal choices, where do we want to go, what is our hope?"

The Archbishop remarked that those who have hope have resilience and the capacity to continue and never give up, regardless of how much the storm crashes on and on.

He said that direction needs to be based as well on faith in eternal life. "Oftentimes, when we look at our lives, we think of the happiness of our life of today, and we forget that we are awaiting the hope and glory of God and our saviour Jesus Christ."

The Archbishop said that for those who truly hope do not think of something that concludes their life when they think of death, but rather something which is a door to eternal life. "Let us work so that each and every one of our appointments with the saviour is truly a beautiful meeting, not the fruit of a decision to end our lives before its time, nor that of living life without hope."

He concluded by telling people to remember in the work coming from their faith, as well as the strength of their hope.

The mass took place at the Collegiate Church of Saint Paul in Valletta.