Today is St David’s day. He is of course the Patron Saint of Wales and he also holds the distinction amongst the other patron saints of the British Isles of being the only patron saint to have been a native of their country. At Mass today we were reminded that St David’s followers were called the Watermen. This was due to their penitential habit of standing up to their neck in freezing cold water and reciting all 150 of the psalms.

Having taken a dip in the Serpentine this morning I can vouch for the arduousness of their task. I only lasted about 3 minutes, scarcely long enough for a Pater Noster, let alone 150 psalms. I think that from this hardly scientific experiment we can safely conclude; 1. that the legend is a bit far fetched; 2. that St Benedict was wise to introduce a more benign routine for his monks. Joking apart, today’s psalm is beautiful:

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord. Happy indeed is the man whose delight is the care of the Lord and who ponders his law day and night. (Psalm 1)