Catastrophes or accidents which take people's lives constantly force people to ask, Why? or Why them? What kind of God allows such things to happen? Today Jesus mentions two apparently recent incidents in which lives were lost. In one case, Pilate the Roman governor had some Galileans killed in the Temple precincts. In the other, eighteen people were killed when a tower in Siloam, inside the south-east section of Jerusalem's wall, fell on top of them. It seems that some people at the time were saying that this was a punishment of God on these people for moral wrongs they had done. Jesus disagrees. In fact, he says, his hearers will all meet a similar fate unless they change their ways. The sins of the victims were not the cause of their death. The question is rather, were they ready for this sudden call to leave this world? Let us hear Jesus warning us to be ready for his final call. We know not the day nor the hour. Hearing this Gospel today we, too, are being given a chance - for a day? A month? Several years? We have no idea. What is clear is that there is no time to waste; we have to start today. For God, the past is not what counts or the future but only the present. As long as I am with him NOW I have nothing to worry about.