A Jesuit friend once told me that when he prays, he imagines sitting beside Jesus along with the person whom my friend hates the most. As he sits there in his contemplative prayer, my friend watches how Jesus looks upon his "enemy." He sees Jesus looking with the eyes of compassion upon him. This divine compassion has the effect of disarming both my friend and the one he hates. My friend learns then how to look upon him by imitating how Jesus looks upon him. With each meditation, he learns to live in a spirit of peace, freed from anger and resentment, filled with love and compassion. Each day, his heart is disarmed anew, and he is better able to do God 's work of disarmament.
— John Dear, Mary of Nazareth, Prophet of Peace