The Benedict Option crystallized and distilled

With gratitude to my friend, who is truly a companion, Fred, on this U.S. Independence Day all I am offering is this from Bishop Massimo Camisasca, who is a member of the Priestly Fraternity of St Charles Borromeo and bishop of of the Diocese of Reggio Emilia-Guastalla, Italy:

St. Benedict's goal was neither to save the Roman Empire nor to create a Europe. He simply understood that the essence of Christianity lies in free persons who come together to give their whole lives for the sake of the truest thing that ever happened to them

St Benedict

My liberty, my freedom, as a human being was not won or granted by any man, woman, or group of people, save One. It is Him I follow. Nobody can validly infer from this that I don't love my country. I do, very much. By a not-so-strange convergence, St Benedict's feast day is 11 July.

Come to think of it, there is one more thing I'd like to add. It is from Dante's Paradisio. The Pilgrim is speaking to Clemence, wife of Charles Martel:

Ah, souls deceived, devoid of piety, who turn your hearts away from the True Good, raising your haughty heads towards empty things! (Canto IX, lines 10-12- Mark Musa's translation)