St. Paul calls it a temple ~ owned by God but operated by us. My mother had exactly sixty-eight years and two months to accomplish whatever it was that she was going to accomplish in her temple: a husband to love and be loved by for 46 years, eight children to raise, thousands more to teach, degrees to obtain, and countless others to serve with dedication and joy. In this short time, Mom accomplished a lot in that body! Conscious of this, I left her hospital room for the last time with a haunting question:"Patrick, in the time you have left, what are you going to do with your life in the body?"

"Glorify God in your body" the second reading says today. The prophet Isaiah said, "I come to do your will." In a famous speech, Dr. Martin Luther King said he wanted to do the same thing. He died the following day at the age of 39. Who knew? God did. God always does, but he's not telling.

So don't waste time living as if your body (and your life) is yours to do with what you please. It's not: "You have been purchased at a price, therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Cor 6:20). If you do, others will be thanking you long after you have left this earth.