I am talking with a group of small kids and we are playing a game that they are really enjoying. It is called “what would you like your Dad to tell you?”

Fortunately for them, their parents are also attending the meeting, and they are in for a few surprises.

One of the kids is particularly insistent. Patience, as you know, is a virtue that comes with age and these little ones are just starting in life.

“You!” I ask to the most eager one. “What would you like your Dad to tell you?”

The kid jumps to his feet and tells me “I want him to tell me ‘Pete, I love you guery much’!”

I look into his eyes, and I find the spark of excitement shining bright in this little one.

“Very well” I say, and hear the commotion among the attendees.

I then ask Pete if he would mind going and getting his Dad.

Pete takes off like a bullet. So much energy in such a little body.

A moment later, here he comes bringing this big man by the hand.

The man looks nervously at me and takes a deep breath.

I explain to him that we are giving children the words that they been eager to hear from us, their parents. The man nods at me.

“So, what is it that you want your Dad to tell you?” I ask little Pete.

The boy looks into his Dad and says, “Pete, I love you guery much!”

The man holds his child’s hand and forces a smile.

I ask him to get down to the eye level of his son. He does so, and the child smiles as saying “nice to meet you dad!”

The man looks at me and I see the mixture of anger and pain in his eyes.

I ask him, “Did your Dad ever told you that he loved you?”

The man silently and slowly shakes his head.

“Your son is waiting” I tell him “for words that you never heard. This is one of those times when you can give that which you never received. I call it miraculous love, precisely because it comes from those who never received it. Look into those eyes, find out what they awaken in you.”

And there is Pete, waiting to see his Dad come into life.

I put my hand in the shoulders of this big man. He clears his throat, keeps his eyes on his son for a long time –the little one waits for him, confident that his Dad will come through- and then some broken words come out of him.

“Pe-te…I …Love you!”

And tears come out with these words.

This is like a second birth: Tears, the embrace, and fresh air coming into his life.

Pete is immensely happy to see and feel this love of his Dad, as if knowing that we are fully alive only when we love.

When the man stands up, there are no remains of nervousness or tension. He is at home in his body because his heart and soul are in it. His eyes warmly smile at me; those same eyes where moments before I had seen anger and pain. Now these eyes have solid love all the way through them.

And the child takes his father home. Forever.