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As the sun peaked over the mountain, its rosy glow spreading over the cassava, corn and sugar cane plantations, a carload of still sleepy people arriving from Jakarta after driving through the night was stirring and getting ready for Sunday Mass.

Tawangmangu, an hour’s drive from Solo in Central Java Province, is a picturesque resort where the air is clean and cool. Temperatures drop to 12 degrees Celsius at sunset, making us regret our mocking response to the advice to “bring your jackets and jumpers.”

“How cold can it be in Indonesia?” we had asked ourselves and our hosts, Gerry and Bimo.

During the drive to Goa Maria Sendang Pawitra , or Maria’s Cave of the Holy Waters, we gaped in awe at the magnificent scenery. Against the majestic mountain backdrop of Mount Lawu, rice paddies and vegetable gardens lined ravines, ending in angry rivers rolling over huge boulders. We had goosebumps at the sight of God’s creation. Nobody spoke a word, except to welcome a hitchhiker on board. We had to stop for her because, according to our driver, she was bringing the priest’s lunch.

When we alighted at the busy parking lot, it had started to drizzle. We made our way down a slippery path to a clearing in the jungle where about 60 people sat on mats on the ground, facing an altar cut into the mountain. Next to the main altar, a smaller one held candles.

From high above the altar, a statue of the Madonna, or Bunda Maria , gazed smilingly at the congregation. A small spring trickled water into a stone-lined basin where people could fill bottles with holy water.

A choir sat under the statue, sideways, facing the altar so we were able to get a good look at them. I hardly recognized Pak Tri Amboro, the owner of the losmen (small hotel) where we were staying. He was dressed in his Sunday best, playing a portable keyboard while his daughter sold candles for prayer.

“This is the highlight of my week. I feel so blessed playing the keyboard for Bunda Maria,” Pak Tri said, with tears in his eyes.

The cave was found by Pak Sunaryo Prononagoro, who says that, in 1967, he received a message from Jesus informing him that it would not be long before he would find a sacred place of worship.

Pak Naryo, as he is fondly known by the locals, is a tall, skinny Javanese man with a stern look. He used to be the local head of police, but is now retired.

“After I received this message, I started searching for this sacred place,” he said.

When I asked him how he received this message, he looked to the mountains.

“It’s a matter of faith,” he said, and lit another cigarette.

“I searched for many years, but this promised sacred place of worship eluded me and I almost lost faith,” he said with a sad smile.

“Luckily, before giving up altogether, I listened one more time to my heart.”

Nearly 20 years later, in 1984, he asked his best friends, Pak Sarju and Dr. Hariyanto, to accompany him on a long journey to the mountain.

“We meditated until we felt our bodies had died,” Pak Naryo said.

“Whatever one’s religion is, there must be a correlation between nature and spiritual belief.”

The trio meditated at a number of sacred places on Mount Lawu, and ended up at Bukit Tempurung, a traditional place of worship and meditation for Javanese of all religions. That night he dreamed that he was surrounded by a burning jungle and the only way he could escape was by a tree root, or sulur , which came down to him from heaven. While he hung on to the root, he looked to his right and saw an area that was barren and almost burnt.

“At the same time a falling star crossed over to the south, and I knew that this was the sacred place I had been looking for,” he said, pointing to the hills behind the statue of Madonna.

It was not until the following year that he found the place from his dreams.

In December 1985, Pak Naryo was transferred to a new police sector, Polsek Ngargoyoso, and on his numerous tours of duty, he kept searching for the sacred place he had seen in his dream. Finally he arrived at a barren clearing that reminded him of his dream.

When he asked an old man in the field why the area was not planted, the old man said that there were too many spirits and ghosts in the area. The old man turned out to be the father of his friend Pak Sarju, and he is now the caretaker of Goa Maria.

“In Javanese mythology, all things have a soul or a spirit, and in sacred places like mountains, rivers and beaches, even stones have spiritual powers,” Pak Naryo said, explaining why he believes that this particular area was the sacred one he saw in his dream. He said that formal religion cannot be separated from the spiritualism that is so strongly ingrained in Javanese life.

It was no coincidence, Pak Naryo said, that one of his good friends, a businessman in Solo named LJ Hudiyono, was at the same time planning to build a shrine in honor of the Holy Mother Maria so that Catholic pilgrims could meditate in peace.

“Everything in life has been predestined,” he said.

Pak Naryo, who was also aware of a desire of the Catholic congregation of Tawangmangu to have a cave, discussed his idea with Sister Dominika, at the time a leading nun at the Catholic convent there.

Eventually, Hudiyono donated Rp 500,000 ($46) to Sister Dominika for the purchase of the land and gave other donations for necessary expenses.

The statue of the Madonna was made in Muntilan, the main center where the statues from Borobudur Temple are repaired.

“The face of the statue of the Madonna is similar to the face of the Buddha in Borobudur Temple,” said Mitu M Prie, an archaeologist familiar with the stone statues of the area.

The statue of the Madonna was carried to its final resting place in Tawangmangu by seven important men, as is the custom in all Javanese ceremonies, no matter their religion.

Father AY Hardjosudarmo officially inaugurated Goa Maria on May 24, 1986. The date coincided with the Buddhist holy day of Waisak, which is celebrated with pomp and ceremony in Indonesia, especially at the Borobudur Temple.

Now, on the first Sunday of each month, the Catholic congregation of Tawangmangu, with a large number of people from all over Java, celebrate mass at Goa Maria Sendang Pawitra.

On this Sunday, the rain poured down as Father Donny Widiarso celebrated Mass and the choir sang. Pak Tri stopped playing his keyboard and tried to move it out of the pouring rain.

But as he did so the tarp in front of the altar gave way and water poured onto the table. Half the choir and a large part of the congregation were soaked, but seemed unconcerned.

Unlike in Lourdes, where the Madonna showed herself to Bernadette, the Holy Mother Maria has never showed herself to Pak Naryo, but to the pilgrims of Indonesia, that does not make Goa Maria Sendang Pawitra less of a holy place. Photo: The Madonna statue looks over the altar at Goa Maria, beside which a choir is accompanied by Pak Tri Amboro on a portable keyboard. (Roswita Nimpuno Khaiyath, JG)