St. Thomas raises this problem exactly when he wonders if the prayer must be very long, and he concludes that the prayer should last as long as it is necessary to excite the inner fervor, not more. When it goes beyond a certain limit where it becomes boring, prayer must cease. So there are some things to be considered:

• It is not convenient to multiply the words in a prayer, but insist in the inner affection. We have to keep in mind that we are not going to talk, but to love, Christ once said:

“In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him (Mathew 6, 7-8).

• It is also necessary to discover when it is necessary to remain in prayer. Jesus Himself shows us that He can pray for a long time, even whole nights. (Luke 6, 12).

• We should not doubt to stop any kind of vocal prayer because we have to move to a deeper kind of prayer.

We should let God establish the right time; if it is a talk and He is the one Who is going to talk let’s try to be with Him as long as we need to be with Him. St. Alphonsus Liguori recommended beginners not to pray more than half an hour and let time grow day by day. St Francis of Sales as well as St. Ignatius of Loyola used to say that a layperson should pray around one hour a day.

It is good to consider that God has always liked to receive the first and the best. So each one of us has to decide how much time we can devote to God trying to give Him more quality time than quantity every time.

“Do not say you do not have enough time say you do not have enough love”.

Frequency is also very important, we must remember to pray EVERY DAY, it means, permanent and constantly, just as you exercise our body, we cannot neglect it.

According to spiritual life masters the most adequate moments to pray are: early in the morning, in the afternoon, before dinner and at midnight. The Bible also says that early in the morning and in the silence of night are the most proper moments to pray:

“At dawn you will hear my cry; at dawn I will plead before you and wait.” (Psalms 5, 4).

“At midnight I rise to praise you because your edicts are just.” (Psalms 119, 62).

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