The Birthdays

     Her religious poetry was surprisingly slender, and as I was eager to know more about her religion, I asked her about this aspect of her poetry. She replied with these lines from Keats' Ode to a Grecian Urn: 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty'--that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know'. Do not ask me to immortalize the great Mystery of Life. I am just a humble worker. For beauty, look to the Psalms, to Isaiah, to St. John of the Cross. How could my poor pen scan such verse? For truth, look to the Gospels-- for short accounts of God made Man. There is nothing more to say."
"Questions, questions – you wear me out with your questions, child. Find out for yourself – we all have to in the end. No one can give you faith. It is a gift from God alone. Seek and ye shall find. Read the Gospels. There is no other way. Do not pester me with your everlasting questions. Go with God, child; just go with God." Her constant phrase, "Go with God", had puzzled me a good deal. Suddenly it became clear. It was a revelation - acceptance. It filled me with joy. Accept life, the world, Spirit, God, call it what you will, and all else will follow.

Sister Monica Joan's replies in Jennifer Worth's book , Call the Midwife