Meditation by:
Archbishop of Canterbury
Thought for the Day, BBC Radio 4
for Saturday 6 September 1997

Good Morning. Today the body of Diana, Princess of Wales will be laid to rest. What a tragic and cruel ending to the life of a person who loved life, loved people and had so much to give! And our grief has been intensified by the news of Mother Teresa's Death.

Mother Teresa, of course, knew Diana well. She would have known at first hand of Diana's wonderful gifts: extraordinary beauty, flair, courage and a marvellous capacity to communicate human warmth. And yet, we shall not portray the real Diana if we make her out to be superhuman. Her special place in so many peoples' hearts was due also to the fact that they could identify with her vulnerability; with the times she suffered and stumbled and the way she was able, so brilliantly, to turn these struggles into compassion for others.

The verse of scripture which comes readily to my mind is the one where St Paul heard God say to him "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness". Yes, that grace takes us as we are, with all our faults, and transforms us into instruments of God's love.

The pain and desolation of the crowds I was with last night in Central London have, in one sense, said it all. She should not have died so needlessly and so young. Christian realism recognises that we live in a world shot through with wrong doing and accidents which cause great suffering.

But God is with us in our suffering and grief. Don't forget that Jesus Christ himself endured the horror of crucifixion before the glory of the Resurrection. Throughout his life, he identified himself with the suffering of the outcasts of society, the sick and the poor.

And I belief that it was God's grace and love that was at work in Diana and made her so special to us all. Through the way she touched the lives of so many, I think she was saying: "You, the young man with AIDS, are special and loved; you, the boy suffering from leukaemia are special; you, the little girl crippled by that land-mine, you matter too."

We are all vulnerable in our own way, but we are all special too, because each person is unique, infinitely precious and loved by Almighty God. This is what Diana instinctively knew and reflected in her life. And the 'living memorial' I think Diana would most love would be for us all to recognise the specialness of every human being: to show in practice the love for each and every neighbour which our Lord requires from us.

That's how I intend to remember her.

George Cantuar