“Come Holy Spirit, fill us with the balm of your healing love. Amen.

“The pattern for many leaders is to be exalted in life and forgotten after death. The pattern for all who serve God – famous or obscure, respected or ignored – is that death is the door to glory.

“Her Late Majesty famously declared on a 21st birthday broadcast that her whole life would be dedicated to serving the Nation and Commonwealth.

“Rarely has such a promise been so well kept! Few leaders receive the outpouring of love that we have seen.

“Jesus – who in our reading does not tell his disciples how to follow, but who to follow – said: “I am the way, the truth and the life”.”

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