Ps.
26:4, "One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after."
Therefore the shorter prayer is, the more is it acceptable to God.

Obj. 3: Further, it seems to be wrong to transgress the limits fixed
by God, especially in matters concerning Divine worship, according to
Ex. 19:21: "Charge the people, lest they should have a mind to pass
the limits to see the Lord, and a very great multitude of them should
perish." But God has fixed for us the limits of prayer by instituting
the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6). Therefore it is not right to prolong our
prayer beyond its limits.

Obj. 4: _On the contrary,_ It would seem that we ought to pray
continually. For our Lord said (Luke 18:1): "We ought always to pray,
and not to faint": and it is written (1 Thess. 5:17): "Pray without
ceasing."

_I answer that,_ We may speak about prayer in two ways: first, by
considering it in itself; secondly, by considering it in its cause.
The cause of prayer is the desire of charity, from which prayer ought
to arise: and this desire ought to be in us continually, either
actually or virtually, for the virtue of this desire remains in
whatever we do out of charity; and we ought to "do all things to the
glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). From this point of view prayer ought to
be continual: wherefore Augustine says (ad Probam, Ep. cxxx, 9):
"Faith, hope and charity are by themselves a prayer of continual
longing." But prayer, considered in itself, cannot be continual,
because we have to be busy about other works, and, as Augustine says
(ad Probam. Ep. cxxx, 9), "we pray to God with our lips at certain
intervals and seasons, in order to admonish ourselves by means of
such like signs, to take note of the amount of our progress in that
desire, and to arouse ourselves more eagerly to an increase thereof."
Now the quantity of a thing should be commensurate with its end, for
instance the quantity of the dose should be commensurate with health.
And so it is becoming that prayer should last long enough to arouse
the fervor of the interior desire: and when it exceeds this measure,
so that it cannot be continued any longer without causing weariness,
it should be discontinued. Wherefore Augustine says (ad Probam. Ep.
cxxx): "It is said that the brethren in Egypt make frequent but very
short prayers, rapid ejaculations, as it were, lest that vigilant and
erect attention which is so necessary in prayer slacken and languish,
through the strain being prolonged