Abba Zeno

Abba Zeno, Desert Father:

If you want God to hear your prayer quickly, then before you pray for anything else, even your own soul, when you stand and stretch out your hands toward God, you must pray with all your heart for your enemies. Through this action God will hear everything that you ask.

(From Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 67, altered)