Louis Bouyer writes that "Monastic life is nothing else, no more and no less, than a Christian life whose Christianity has penetrated very part of it." The vocation of the monk is nothing else than the vocation of a Christian. A vocation, that is, a call of God to give up certain legitimate goods, to follow it more closely in order to facilitate the way to holiness; renunciations that lead to true perfection. In the Benedictine Rule, there is the triple promise, or the three monastic vows: obedience, silence and humility, parallel to those of poverty, chastity and obedience that are made in other religious families such as the Franciscans.
Saint Benedict gives radical importance to the matter of poverty. In fact, chapter 33 of the Rule begins,
Saint Benedict gives radical importance to the matter of poverty. In fact, chapter 33 of the Rule begins,