Do we pray for those we love, or does prayer cause us to love them? Perhaps both, but the 18th Century Anglican priest, William Law, taught the latter with elegant prose.
For there is nothing that makes us love someone so much as praying for them; and when you can once do this sincerely for anyone, you have fitted your soul for the performance of everything that is kind and civil towards them. This will fill your heart with a generosity and tenderness, that will give you a better and sweeter behavior than anything that is called fine breeding and good manners.