“LET US make Wales the place where no one is left behind,” the Bishop of St Davids, the Rt Revd Joanna Penberthy, is due to say in a St David’s Day message on Monday.
Bishop Penberthy is due to deliver the message during a service in St Davids Cathedral. The service, which begins at midday, will be broadcast from the shrine of St David, and can be watched here. The full text of the address is below, in English and Welsh.
The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd John Davies, will lead prayers from 1 p.m. This will be live-streamed on the Church in Wales Facebook page.
Last week, Bishop Penberthy asked people to join her in a 408-mile “virtual pilgrimage” from St Davids to Glasgow, starting on St David’s Day, on Monday, and finishing before the COP26 conference, which is to be hosted by the Government in Glasgow in November (News, 26 February).
St David’s Day message from the Bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy
St David’s last words were not aimed at the powerful or the rich, they were aimed at the ordinary people of his community: “Rejoice always, keep the Faith and your faith and do the little things.”
Although we pray earnestly that the day for rejoicing will come, unfortunately today is not yet that day. But what we can do today is to give thanks for all those here in Wales who, throughout this pandemic, have in so many different ways, worked hard and risked their own well being to keep us safe and well and our common lives going. On your behalf, on this St David’s Day, I say to each one of these: Thank you.
And let all of us, in this difficult time, as St David asks, do the little things. Let us keep the faith of kindness, truthfulness, honesty and justice. St David spent his life nurturing his community. As we gradually come out of Covid, let us work together, wanting for everyone else no more and no less than we want for ourselves. Let us make Wales the place where no one is left behind.
Neges Dydd Gwyl Dewi 2021 - Esgob Tyddewi, Joanna Penberthy
Nid neges wedi ei hanelu at y pwerus neu’r cyfoethog oedd geiriau olaf Dewi Sant; yn hytrach, pobl gyffredin ei gymuned oedd ganddo mewn golwg: “Byddwch lawen yn wastadol, cedwch y Ffydd gan fod yn ffyddlon, a gwnewch y pethau bychain.” Er i ni weddïo’n daer y daw dydd llawenhau, ni ddaeth y dydd hwnnw eto, ysywaeth. Ond fe allwn, yn sicr, dalu diolch heddiw am ymroddiad pawb yma yng Nghymru a fu wrthi’n ddyfal yn ystod y pandemig — a hynny mewn amrywiol ffyrdd — yn peryglu eu iechyd er mwyn ein diogelwch a’n dyfodol ninnau. Ar eich rhan, y Dydd Gwyl Dewi hwn, dyma fi’n dweud wrthynt bob un: Diolch.
A boed i ni, bawb, ar adeg anodd iawn, ymateb i Ddewi Sant a gwneud y pethau bychain. Boed i ni gynnal ffydd, caredigrwydd, gwirionedd, gonestrwydd a chyfiawnder. Treuliodd Dewi ei oes yn meithrin ei gymuned. Wrth i ni oresgyn Covid yn raddol, gadewch i ni gydweithio, gan ddymuno i bawb arall yr union fendithion a chwenychwn ar ein cyfer ein hunain. Gwnawn Gymru’n wlad lle mae pawb ar y blaen.