WATCH: Biden Describes His Last Conversation with Beau in Emotional Prayer Breakfast Speech — On Beau’s Birthday

President Joe Biden talked about his last conversation with late son Beau Biden in an emotional speech at this year’s National Prayer Breakfast — which took place on Beau’s birthday.

The president delivered a lengthy address at the annual breakfast that alternated between somber reflection, inspiration, and signature Biden anecdotes and jokes.

In one particularly moving section, he noted that today would have been Beau’s birthday and painted a detailed picture of his last conversation with his son, who died of brain cancer in 2015.

Today is my son Beau’s birthday. But the only thing that Beau said to me when he was — we were told he was, he was going to die within minutes or an hour — that he looked at me, said “Dad. Promise me, promise me, Dad, you’re going to stay involved.

I said “I’m gonna be involve — I’ll be good, Beau.”

He said “No, Dad. Promise me, give me your word as a Biden. You’re going to stay engaged,” because he knew, like a lot of you, what you’ve been through, the first instinct is you just want to crawl up in a ball and leave, no longer do what you’ve done your whole life.

He said “Dad, dad. Promise me.”

I gave him my word, that was — that was the last conversation, in Walter Reed Hospital lying there in the bed.

And then he looked at me, and he said “And dad,” whose brother Hunter was his closest friend. We were all three in the bed and he turned to me, said, “Dad, I want you to know. I’m not afraid.”

Biden speaks often about his son Beau, as well as the loss of his first wife and infant daughter, and his openness and empathy about grief have become defining characteristics of his public life. While those traits have been praised by some, the president has also been attacked over it by critics and members of the media.

Watch above via C-Span.