When Martha, a twenty-four year old Harvard PhD student, discovered she was expecting her second child, it came as a bit of a shock. She had not planned on this, and neither had her husband, John, also a PhD student at the university. Although Susan's predominant feeling was that of elation, she couldn't help but feel somewhat apprehensive at the thought of carrying and raising another child in the midst of her and her husband's pressurized world of study and academic deadlines. They thought it over, talked it through and eventually decided to keep their baby come what may.

However things got worse when, several weeks into her pregnancy, and after many bouts of nausea and periods of dehydration, Susan was told that she was carrying a Down syndrome baby. This news was hard to accept for Susan and her husband, and for a while it left them morally deflated, disoriented and confused. But somehow they found within themselves the resolve to persevere and support each other for the remainder of Susan's pregnancy. Sadly though, others did not mirror the loving support they showed to each other.

During one overnight stay at the Harvard medical center, Susan was confronted by one of her doctors, a world-renowned obstetrician, who attempted to subtly convince her that her decision to continue with her pregnancy was extremely foolish and immature. Why would she want to burden herself and her marriage with a retarded child when he could so easily take care of it? He reasoned. Susan, however, was not buying.

When her husband, John, broke the news of their Down syndrome baby to his PhD supervisor, he met with an equally callous and arrogant response. These are the words of advice his professor gave him: 'When you run up against one of life's obstacles - and we all do, at one time or another - that's when you have to prove yourself. Are you going to make the right choice for your career, or are you going to crumble?' 'Get back on track with your dissertation,' he added, 'and stop worrying about some defective child that doesn't even have to be born.'

Well, Adam, Susan and John's Down syndrome baby boy was born, and thus began the adventure of a lifetime for two apprehensive parents who would grow to love and cherish their son - a son who in turn would teach them many lessons about life. As this youngster grew, his capricious ways, playful antics and spontaneous nature taught them how to live joyfully. But most of all Adam taught his parents how to be truly and fully human. He taught them the profound lesson that what makes us human is not our minds but our hearts, not our ability to think but our ability to love - and all this from a so-called defective child, that, according to some of Harvard's most brilliant minds should never have been born.

In our second reading today from Paul's letter to the Corinthians we read: 'God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something.'

And I wonder, what can a little Down syndrome boy say to a culture that worships at the altar of 'the body beautiful' and cosmetic perfection?

And I wonder, what can a little Down syndrome boy say to a world that values only what I produce and achieve, rather than who I am in relation to God, others and the beauty and wonder of creation?

And I wonder, what does it mean to be nothing in the eyes of the world, yet richly blessed and cherished in the eyes of God? Or to be judged a loser or misfit by the worldly wise, and yet be radiant with the wisdom, virtue and holiness of Christ? Perhaps it means to be poor in spirit; a flickering light in the darkness; a sign of contradiction like Adam to enlighten human minds, heal human hearts and maybe even change the world.