Tuning In to God

In The Jesus Prayer, Frederica Mathewes-Green likens our ability to perceive God to a “little radio” inside us that we can tune in to the divine presence while tuning out the static of distractions. She uses the Greek word ‘nous’ to name this receptive and perceptive faculty. That’s the theory. The practical question is how we can learn to adjust the tuner to find the right frequency and how we can attend to the divine signal once we have located it. She recommends a regular rehearsal of the Jesus prayer for this purpose: “Jesus have mercy on me, a sinner.”