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Teresa McGee was struggling with arthritis, anger, and a sense of sin. Her friend Jim Lenehan, a 72-year-old Maryknoll missioner, lay dying in a nursing home. It was Jim's last summer. For Teresa it was a new beginning.

"Cancer, " Jim told her, "is a long, drawn out final exam in letting go." Jim invited Teresa into a journey that changed her life, making her the guardian of his life story. Through a spiritual alchemy his life-lessons became the guardian of her soul.

It was a long hot summer, and as Jim diminished Teresa grew. Jim was a recovering alcoholic and the spiritual lessons he shared helped Teresa to see her own life in a new perspective. Her gratitude and good humor in turn helped Jim to pass on with peace.

"The last time I sat by his bed, " writes Teresa, "there seemed to be nothing left of Jim but his essential goodness."

That goodness remains, in Teresa, and in her moving story of friendship, faith, and rebirth.