Father Andrew W. Greeley tells the story: Once upon a time a young man, who had been reported kill in action, came home from a prisoner of war camp. His family and his buddies and even his girl friend had mourned him as dead and then more or less got over their grief. His sudden reappearance was disconcerting to say the least. They had all loved him, but they had in effect written him out of their lives. His girl friend was engaged to marry someone else. Moreover, he didn't seem like the boy who had gone off to war. He was thin and haggard and haunted.

However, he was now mature, self-possessed, and, astonishingly, happy. He hadn't smiled much as a kid and rarely joked. Now he was witty and ebullient all the time. A quiet kid had become an outgoing adult man. And he didn't fit into the patterns of relationships he had left behind. Quite the contrary, his happiness and maturity were unsettling. He congratulated his former girl friend on her upcoming marriage and he shook hands cordially with the fiancé.

There's something wrong with him, everybody said. His family went to the priest. And the priest concurred, "There sure is something wrong with him," the priest said. "He has risen from the dead and now acts like a saint."

Why is that severe hardship has to cripple us psychologically and emotionally. Coulnb't it just as well transform our lives for the better?