wfn.org | DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES

[Audrey Whitefield <a.whitefield@quest.org.uk>]

Sept. 8, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

ACC 1330

DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES

(ACNS)  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