My friend and colleague, Ann Fons, stopped me as I walked into work this week. "You have to see this!" I didn't know if this was the start of a really good day or a really bad day. She rushed me to her desk and started playing this video, in which a little boy asks Pope Francis, "Is my dad in heaven?"

It tells the story of Pope Francis as he encounters a little boy in a public housing project. The pope was taking questions from the children. When it was a small child, Emanuele's turn to speak, he began to cry. He froze and said, "I can't do it..." After much coaxing he was brought to the pope who said to him, "Come and whisper it in my ear."

I want to believe that our God is like Pope Francis because sometimes I know I am like Emanuele and feel unable to share the greatest fears of my heart. And often my fears are about those I love more than anyone and for whom I feel responsible. I have discovered fear is a powerful emotion that can paralyze us and make us unable to connect with others and with God. Fear isolates. The next time I feel that fear or worry for a loved one I want to hold the image of our Pope Francis reminding me that God says to me, "Come and whisper in my ear."

I encourage you to take a few minutes out of your day to watch the interaction of Pope Francis with Emanuele. The gentleness of the pope with this young vulnerable child will remind you that the Holy Spirit is alive and is in our midst in our Church.

It may remind you prayer doesn't have to be grand. Sometimes it is our whisper into God's ear and sometimes it is listening to the "small still whisper" of God's voice in our heart.

This is just the beginning of this lovely story. You will find the video here. I hope you will watch it! "You have to see this!"