Orthodox Christians keep the Martyrdom of St John the Baptist as a strict fast — no meat, wine, oil, fish or dairy — as a reminder that our lives should be different from those of Herod whose luxury and self-indulgence led him into sin. Some will not use plates today (because the Baptist's head was presented to Salome on a platter), and it is quite common to serve food that does not need a knife to cut it (because John's head was cut off with a sword). I daresay some people will smile as they read this; others will perhaps stop to think. When we live in a world that really understands sign and symbol such usages are more than just pious practices. They become a means of entering more fully into the celebration of the liturgy and so of the Mystery celebrated. In the west we have tended to concentrate on words, and as our respect for words has diminished (along with our grasp of meaning, grammar, syntax etc.) so our understanding of the liturgy has become impoverished, too. We are all eager to know exactly what form revisions to the Missal will take (leaked versions have been circulating for some time but until we see the definitive version, it is idle to speculate what will/will not be authorized for use in England) and are hopeful that we shall have something rather better than we have had in recent years. That is not to knock the current Ordo Missae which has its strengths as well as its weaknesses. Hope, it is worth recalling, is one of the three theological virtues, although sometimes in practice rather a cinderella virtue. It is also, with humility, pre-eminently the virtue of today's great saint. Scroll down to comment.