Beheading of St. John the Baptist

It's kind of strange to celebrate some one's beheading, but that's what we do today. We know the story of John's death, and how Herod embarrassed himself in front of his guests. It pays to not make gestures that you can't carry through.

Here is an interesting item:

Cardinal Ruini: Go to the Holy Land
ROME, AUG. 28, 2007

Benedict XVI's vicar for the Diocese of Rome is encouraging people to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land.Cardinal Camillo Ruini made his appeal Monday from Romes' Fiumicino airport, before leaving for a pilgrimage to Lourdes.In a press conference, the cardinal encouraged pilgrimages to the places mentioned in the Gospels.Pilgrims' trips to the Holy Land, he said, are "a basic condition to favor the peace and serenity of the holy places. We must all work to overcome the fears that stop the faithful who wish to go to the Holy Land.""Maybe they are unfounded fears," Cardinal Ruini added, "but understandable ones. While we go to Lourdes we ask the Lord for peace in the Holy Land."

It is difficult for us to imagine, but the Christians of the Holy Land really depend on the tourist trade to support themselves. When I was returned from there last November, people asked me if I had been afraid anywhere on the pilgrimage. I never was---anywhere. Even when there was one sticky situation, when they saw that we were pilgrims, they made way for us happily. I would urge everyone who can to go to the Holy Land. Just our presence there is a great support for the Christian people there, and the presence of Christians there is a moderating influence between the secular Jews who run the State of Israel, and the Palestinians. Deus lo vult!