LOVE ≠ LIKE or "How I came to Love Satan"

When I was a child, my mother used to tell me (on appropriate occasions) "I love you son, but right now, I don't like you very much."  I came to understand fairly early on that just because she was unhappy with me, did not mean that she didn't love me.
  We are called by the new covenant to love our neighbours. Oh how hard this is to do. Sure, we say that we love everyone, and that is great at an intellectual level, but is it what is really in  your heart?
Love cannot be given falsely of the heart; and prayer cannot be given dishonestly. If your heart is in a false place, "lay down your offering and go and make peace," then return with your prayers. If you have a grievance with someone, and you can do something about it, set aside pride and ego, and go and try to make peace. If they receive you, great! There is peace. If they reject you, then "knock the dust from your sandals" and know that you have honestly tried. If you cannot make peace with that person face to face, then go to confession and reconcile your heart in truth, and let God handle the rest. Then, and only then can you honestly pray for, and with peace.
  Sometimes we are blind to our grievances. We think of our spouse, or our family, or our co-workers, or our friends, or our neighbours. We make our reconciliations and we feel good about it and ourselves; but when the 5 o'clock news comes on, we curse those misguided puppets in Washington, or those dirty Taliban, or that awful dictator in Africa. In our hearts we genuinely hate them, but in our minds we are blind, because they are not an immediate part of our lives (in some cases they are, but the idea is still the same). Can we in good concious say that we fulfil this New Covenant of Love once we recognize this in ourselves?
  Who among us can genuinely, with unconditional love and with the best and most honest intentions, pray for the politician on the other side of the isle? Who can pray for the murderous dictator, or the terrorist bomber? Who among us can pray for Satan, who is arguably the source of all of the evil? Perhaps if we prayed for the politician, cooperation and bipartisanship could be found. Perhaps if we prayed for the dictators or the terrorists, they might have a change of heart and not set off that bomb or slaughter that village. Perhaps if we prayed for Satan, the Adversary, maybe, just maybe, (like the Grinch who stole Christmas) he would have second thoughts and his heart would begin to heal.