Martin Luther King was an African American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assasination in Memphis in 1968. He advanced civil rights through nonviolence and civil obedience, inspired by his christian beliefs and the non-violent actvism of Mahatma Gandhi. It brought him hardships, insults, imprisonment and threats to his life. In the end it claimed his life. During that struggle he experienced many low moments. He tells us how one night he reached rock bottom. His home had been bombed, he was tired of the insults and injustices. In this state of exhaustion and despair, he threw himself on his knees before God and prayed: ‘Lord, I have taken a stand for what I believe is right. But now I’m afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership. If I stand before them without faith and courage they too will falter. But I’m at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I can’t face it any longer’ Later he said: ‘at that moment I experienced the presence of God in a way I had never before experienced it before’. That experience enabled him to continue the struggle. Role models and heroes who never show weakness or vulnerability are simply not believable. When we meet someone who is fearful, or reluctant, we find that person much more believable. We like to see the person behind the hero, they are human after all. Jesus had his lowest moment in the garden of Gethsemane, when his soul was so deeply troubled that he said: ‘My soul is ready to die with sorrow’. The agony in the garden in some respects is the most comforting part of the gospel, because it shows Jesus at his most human. From where did Jesus get the strength to face it? From prayer. Someone defined courage as: ‘Courage is fear that has said its prayers’. One would not be human if one didn’t feel fear when danger threatens. Courage is not: ‘never feeling afraid;’ it is feeling afraid and going on in spite of everything. ‘A person without fear is no hero; the person who overcomes fear is’ (Solzhenitsyn). Jesus’ agony in the garden gives us comfort and hope in our low moments. There is no need to pretend that we are made of granite. We must not hide our weakness and fear. Like Jesus we must turn to God in heartfelt prayer. And we also must seek human comforting, as Jesus did when he asked Peter, James and John to watch and pray with him. Example of St. John Paul II in Naples with a meeting with young people.  We all need encouragement. Let us turn to God in prayer for encouragement  and strenght and let us be a source of encouragement and strength for each other as we struggle through this pandemic.