Contemplation journey? Why not?

Honestly I decided to make this journey a few months before but it was only on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 I got confirmed that I could visit Gedono, a place somewhere in the foot of Mount Merbabu. On Wednesday I packed my 45 L backpack (I even carried it to my office) and in the afternoon went to Rawamangun bus terminal for a bus to Salatiga. It was around 5.00 AM when I arrived in Salatiga. The spectacular view I got in Tingkir bus terminal was awesome. Mount Merapi along with two twin peaks of Mount Merbabu stand in the background of this terminal. Awesome, the smoke coming out from Mount Merapi was apparent at that time. I had to use a motor cab (commonly called ojek motor  ) after having my breakfast in a waroeng near the terminal. Quietness and contemplation are two rare things in a metropolitan city of Jakarta. I did find it in this monastery whose official name is the Pertapaan Bunda Pemersatu, there their life could be such a good example for dedication, simplicity and love. It was so quiet something that I long to find in Jakarta. Here I met some guests also coming from Jakarta (but they booked the rooms many months before not like me).

Spending time in quietness

Could you imagine spending your time in quietness where you could almost hear your heartbeat and seem like meditating and contemplating your life? I feel this way. The prayer in the chapel is held 7 times and they also have silent prayer for 30 minutes. I even had to wake up at 03.00 AM (it depends on us to join it or not) for night prayer. I carried some books and amazingly I could feel that it’s easier to understand the content compared when I read the book at my home.

Purpose Driven Journey

Sometimes I do feel we need time to ponder about our life and find time to contemplate about why we live. Some people never think or being reluctant to think this crucial thought. Eventually I also learned from nuns I met there, new friends I met and many people on my journey. Vocation for many people is not always about doing something exhausting to do something good, something that we believe God wants us to do. The life I found in Gedono is another example how we could do His will by sacrificing their life for prayer. Let me make it simple, some people serve Him by doing something physical but the nuns there serve in prayer. It’s so common for us to hear many people asking for our prayer when they’re troubled. Their prayer is a service given to Him, namely praying for other people’s needs. Perhaps we forget that even Mother Theresa’s Missionary of Charity also has a contemplative branch whose members serve by praying this religious order and the world.

I promised myself that I must return to this place sometime. It’s also because this place is near Semarang my second hometown.