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Good morning. Her Majesty the Queen has made about twenty five visits to Northern Ireland during her long reign. But for twenty five years there was only one, during her Silver Jubilee in 1977, a visit that began 39 years ago today. The reason for a lack of visits was obvious- the troubles were at their worst. That Silver Jubilee visit saw some of the tightest security Northern Ireland ever witnessed, for various threats had been made to make it a visit to remember.If anyone had at that time suggested the Queen would one day make a highly successful State Visit to the Republic of Ireland, they would have been laughed out of court!<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

It was to be 2002 before the Queen came again and since then there has been a visit almost every year. And on these Queen has been to places where she might not have been particularly welcome forty years ago and has been greeted by people who would in the past have utterly avoided her presence. There have been powerful symbolic actions as when in 2012, after a service in Enniskillen鈥檚 Church of Ireland Cathedral she crossed the street to greet local community groups in the town鈥檚 Roman Catholic Church.

Those developments are some indication that Northern Ireland has in many ways become a more normal of society. There are still strongly opposed political positions, there are still violent incidents and many issues still be settled. But the appalling violence that prevented royal visits for so long has ceased. That does not mean that there aren鈥檛 thousands of people here who still bear the marks of violence on their bodies and in their minds. Just as there are many in Europe in Iraq, and Syria and throughout the world. We pray for them:聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽

Lord, support and comfort all who this day suffer because of violence聽 Amen