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Editor's note: From her series on St. Benedict's rules of humility, using the Rule of St. Benedict to explore the question of institutional breakdown from a perspective formed over 20 centuries ago and the vision of the man who set out to restore the heart of the human enterprise
Think of it: Every single thing in the United States from the Democratic system to dishwashing fluids, all of them are presented as "the best," "the biggest," "the most effective," "the most powerful," "the fastest," "the strongest," "the incomparable," and, of course, "the greatest."
Oh, come now.
At Benedict's seventh step of humility, all sense of superiority is punctured.
No doubt about it: The seventh degree of humility in the Rule of Benedict was meant for us. It's impossible, of course, to lead the world in everything. But tell any lie long enough and people are prone to believe it. And claim it. And assume it. And we do.