One of the things the Catholic Church understands so well is the need for light and shade, feast and fast. Tomorrow we celebrate Our Lady's Assumption, which will be a feast in the refectory as well as the oratory; so it is appropriate that today everything is a little low-key, in culinary as well as liturgical terms. We are invited to "taste and see that the Lord is good" as the psalmist says, and it is better if our taste-buds have not become jaded.