Saturday, July 25, 2009

A Life Well Spent

Here is a portion of Deacon Greg Kandra's sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time.

"In 1994, when Amy was three months pregnant with her first child, her doctor told her that the baby had anencephaly, a neural defect. As a result, part of the baby’s brain, and skull, would never be formed. It happens in about one out of every 200-thousand pregnancies. There was nothing medical science could do.

Amy was told the baby would die soon after birth.

She had the option of terminating the pregnancy, having an abortion. But Amy McNamara chose not to. She carried the child for another six months and then, finally, gave birth.

The baby died just four hours later, cradled in his mother’s arms.

A few days later, friends and relatives received the following notice in the mail.


Patrick and Amy McNamara
proudly announce the birth of their son
Adam Christopher McNamara
June 15, 1994
5 lbs. 9oz., 19 in.


Amy and Patrick enclosed a note:

"Adam was our son for nine months and four hours on this earth,” they wrote. “Four hours was enough time to baptize and confirm Adam, to appreciate his perfectly formed body, to shower parental affection on him, and four hours was enough time for Adam to touch our hearts in a way that we would have never dreamed of only a few months before.”

The note concluded:

'Our son brought an immeasurable amount of joy into our lives. When we miss Adam and sadness begins to descend, we recall this joy and pray that the strength of this memory will sustain us.' "


Read Deacon Greg's entire sermon including a poem Amy wrote about Patrick's role as Adam's father. Amy, Patrick and Adam's life experience provide a shining contrast to the culture of death.

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