If patience is a virtue then sainthood is one customer service call away.  How often are we called to practice patience in our daily lives?  True Patience, however, must be something other than checking out while we wait for the train to pass.  The virtue of Patience must become a deep spiritual practice.  First we strive to obtain inner-patience, knowing always that we are works in progress, works that will take a lifetime to complete.  When we recognize this in ourselves, we begin to understand that others are no more perfect than are we.  We are called to accept others as we find them, patient in the knowledge that they are still baking, still congealing, on the road to perfection.  When we virtuously practice patience we will find ourselves and each other in a state of Grace, from which Love and Compassion then may follow.  May we be Virtuous in our living today.  We are patiently grateful – Blessed Be, and Amen.