Here is an exercise for allowing yourself to experience the love of Christ for you, a favorite exercise of Saint Teresa of Avila. . . .
Imagine you see Jesus standing before you. . . . He is looking at you. . . . Notice him looking at you. . . .
That is all! Teresa puts it in a very brief formula: "Mira que te mira." Notice that he is looking at you.
She adds two very important adverbs, however. Notice that he is looking at you, she says, lovingly and humbly. Take particular care to feel both attitudes in Christ as he looks at you: see him look at you with love; see him look at you with humility.
Both of these attitudes can cause difficulty. Many find it hard to imagine Jesus looking at them lovingly — their image of Jesus is the image of someone who is harsh and demanding, someone who, even if he loves them, loves them only if they are good. The second attitude they find even more difficult to accept: that Jesus should look at them humbly . . . Impossible! Once again, they have not understood the Jesus of the New Testament. They have never taken seriously the fact that Jesus has become their servant and slave, the one who washes their feet, the one who willingly died the death of a slave out of love for them.
So look at him looking at you. And notice the love in his look. Notice the humility. One of Saint Teresa's Sisters, who practiced this method of prayer faithfully, for hours on end, said she always experienced dryness in prayer. When she was asked what she did in prayer, she replied," I just allow myself to be loved!"
— Anthony de Mello in Sadhana