A Bold Request 

      I pray, O Master,
      that the flames of hell
      may not touch me
      or any of those whom I love,
      and even that they may never touch anyone.
      (And I know, my God,
      that you will forgive this bold prayer.)
       
                                                      Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.

        Edited by Michael Harter SJ Hearts on Fire (St. Louis, MO: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1993) p.24