If one is habitually listening to worldly speech, how can one yet live for God alone, as you suggest?” She said, “Just as when you are sitting at table and there are many courses, you take some but without pleasure, so when worldly conversations come your way, have your heart turned towards God, and thanks to this disposition, you will hear them without pleasure, and they will not do you any harm. Amma Theodora

Abba Zeno said, “If a man wants God to hear his prayer quickly, then before he prays for anything else, even his own soul, when he stands and stretches out his hands towards God, he must pray with all his heart for his enemies. Through this action God will hear everything that he asks.”