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June 30 is the birthday of Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, born in Szetejnie, Lithuania, in 1911.

Traveling with his father through Russia, Milosz was fascinated by the region’s different religions: Catholicism, Greek Orthodox and Protestant Christianity, Judaism, and pagan mysticism. He translated many books of the Bible into Polish, and was particularly fascinated by the Book of Job and the Psalms. Asked how he arrived at faith in God, he said,

It's not up to me to know anything about heaven or hell.

But in this world, there is too much ugliness and horror.

So there must be, somewhere, goodness and truth.

And that means somewhere God must be.