How may times have we wondered why in some great disaster like an earthquake, a typhoon, or a plane crash some people get killed while others walk away without a scratch? Why do we find some bachelors living into their 90s while the mother of young children is taken away by cancer in her 30s? We cannot really give easy answers to such questions. Nor in today's Gospel does Jesus try to do so. What he does do is to deny that the deaths mentioned in the Gospel were punishment for sin. In such tragic situations both good and bad are victims. Instead, Jesus asks people to focus on their own lives and see in these sudden tragedies timely warning for themselves. If we were to be overtaken by a similar happening, how prepared are we to face our God? If we have been given more time, we should perhaps see ourselves like the barren fig tree, not bearing the expected fruit. Like the gardener in the parable God is giving us a little more time and more of His grace (fertilizer) to see if we will improve. And, given the uncertainty of our future, let us begin today, let us begin right now. The surest way to be ready for the future is to live totally in the present, because that is where God is to be found.