Shrine of reinspiration

November 27, 2004

With a simple rhythmic chant, 14 people from the Shrine of Holy Wisdom exited their sacred meeting space in Danelle Plaza in Tempe and set forth on a "walking meditation" that took them full circle around the aging business complex.

On that Christ the King Sunday, marking the close of the church year calendar, the Rev. Jorge Rodriguez Eagar assigned five to carry icons of holy exemplars such as Mary Magdalene, St. Francis of Assisi, St. George the Dragon Slayer and the Dalai Lama. Others carried flowers, candles on tall stands, ornate crosses or a censer emitting incense across the quiet parking lot. Everyone bore something that was integral to the rite.

"As we march in procession, imagine golden rays emanating from your hearts upward, shedding the light of all these great deeds out into the immediate neighborhood," Eagar said. "Envision it going out into the state of Arizona and the United States and the entire world as we make the rounds and come back to the entrance of the chapel."

The small group returned to the shrine — a single room with deep blue walls and dashes of gold — a dramatic holy space with a floor-to-ceiling, thin, blue, spangled curtain in front of the altar. The cozy room was embellished with small statuary, autumn decorations and the trappings of a carefully designed sanctuary.

Eagar said he chose blue because it is a "profoundly mystical color" and soothes the soul. "Once you enter this space, it takes you into a very deep place of meditation and contemplation."

On this Sunday to mark "the great solemnity of Christ the King," the priest led a liturgy of the "Cosmic Christos — a metaphysical liturgy that honors the divine radiance of all created forms."

Worshipers sat in chairs, arranged in an oblong, where they entered into an intense service of chants, homily, readings and rituals. Throughout the service, the priest applied his ministry to each person by name. He vigorously swung the censer to both sides of each person, filling that space with incense. Moments later he took a vessel of holy water and carried out the rite of Asperges, using a wing of feathers to robustly sprinkle each person with water.

The Shrine of Holy Wisdom is one of 28 congregations of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch — Malabar Rite, with its headquarters and archbishop in Santa Fe, N.M., (www.churchofantioch.org).

Seven are chartered in Arizona. The churches are described as "progressive, non-dogmatic, non-creedal, non-fear-based, mystically oriented, Christ-centered spiritual fellowship of followers of the Spirit." Eager touts the Shrine as a community "dedicated to the study and practice of the inner teachings of the Christos," or Christ. Eager started it in November 2001 and originally named it "Christ of Divine Light." Its board adopted the current name last summer. The Shrine’s five points of ministry are an emphasis of the inner quest; embracing diverse sacred traditions; celebrating the earth and its cycles; honoring the divine feminine; and valuing the transformative power of ritual.

"We are not a creedal church, so we don’t espouse and we don’t impose on anyone that they have to believe in the articles of the priest to be a member of our church," said Eagar, 57, who began as an elementary school teacher in 1970 and then moved to college teaching in 1980. He teaches grammar and humanities, now part time, at Mesa Community College and holds a doctorate in Hispanic literature from Arizona State University.

Born in Los Angeles and raised in a "very traditional, devotional Roman Catholic, Mexican household," Eagar went through 13 years of Catholic school education. In 1985, he met a Hindu East Indian meditation master, Guru Shanti Mayi, and learned "the mystical approach to the deeper relationship with the inner self, the inner God, the inner Christ, however you wish to call it."

"She offered me a sense of discipline for deeper spiritual understanding of myself," he said. For the next decade, he followed those practices. In the late 1990s, he said he "sensed something was missing that wasn’t quite filling my soul the way I wanted."

While staying in a Santa Fe bed and breakfast inn in 1998, Eagar found a publication promoting spiritual retreats sponsored by the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch. It told of an "esoteric, mystical and metaphysical approach to the Christ" that was "valid apostolic succession, had seven sacraments and the celebration of the Eucharist." Priesthood, he learned, was open to all regardless of gender, marital status or sexual orientation.

"I thought it was too good to be true, so I read it again," Eagar said. That led to a fivehour meeting in Santa Fe with Richard Gundrey, who is now the patriarch of the denomination. He was invited to the next Sunday’s service, on Marian Feast Day, led by Gundrey. "I almost didn’t go," explained Eager, saying he was reluctant to get involved anew in organized religion. But the service resonated deeply with him.

"The liturgy was so moving. It moved me to tears, and I realized what I had been missing" since the early 1980s when he had quit the Catholic church.

Eagar decided to pursue priesthood because he found the Church of Antioch showed "a greater sense of openness and inclusiveness of all people, a respect for the individual conscience as adults to formulate their own decisions and opinions about moral issues, rather than how to be dictated from an above by a hierarchy."

He was ordained in September 2001 and set about developing his faith community. He has promoted the shrine with special classes and lectures on such topics as "Magical Patterns in Christianity," "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene," "Desert Spirituality," "Shrine Box Making" and "The Gospel of Thomas."

What Eager calls "normative Christianity" has excluded "the female manifestation of God," wreaking havoc and causing an imbalance of the "male and female energies in oneself."

Jeanette Sinohui, who has been with the shrine since it began, was raised Catholic. "After I took my first Communion, it basically was hitand-miss going to church," she said. "Services I did go to were very dull and traditional and bored me to the point that I didn’t want to go to any services at all," she said. Sinohui, a volunteer who handles the shrine’s music, said Eagar has awakened her to the spiritual realm of her being. "He doesn’t put pressure on you to do any of the ceremonies," she said, noting that those who attend are "like a family."

Wayne Murray, who was raised Lutheran, has been a friend of Eagar’s for 20 years. He took part in worship experiences when Eager first had them in his home. "I come because it is inspirational, and it has led me to lead my own traditions and how to involve my friends into spirituality. Also," Murray said. "I come here for the leadership and the openness."