God’s word is likened to a table of appetizing food. Whoever sits at this table and partakes of this word enjoys it greatly and leaves the table gratified.

The Church explains the divine word as “the breath of God” for in it is the life-giving breath. Christ expresses this when he says, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).

For this reason, it became necessary for the church to partake frequently of the divine word, to meditate on it morning and evening, to form from it her prayers, liturgies, and praises, and for it to be the topic of her contemplations and constant preoccupations. Therefore, the word becomes her fountain of comfort and joy!

In the baptismal commandment, the church commands the parents of a newly baptized child to “[b]e diligent in teaching them to recite the holy scriptures, which are the breath of God…” This means that we are asked to put a great deal of effort and attention toward teaching our children from their childhood how to read and understand the holy books of the old and new testaments, for it is a life-giving breath from God that enlightens their minds, comforts their hearts, and revives their souls. With the help of their parents, they should begin from a young age to understand and study it so that St. Paul’s words about the saint and great servant Timothy can apply to them: “[F]rom childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation” (2 Tim. 3:15).

The human being will then go through several stages of enrichment from the word: first, a stage of nutrition from the word; then a state of fulfillment from the word; and finally a state of overflowing with the word of grace. Thus, the person will become an overflowing fountain that the Holy Spirit uses to nurture many. And through this person, the word of Christ will be befitting when he said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive...” (John 7:38-39).

It is interesting that within all these stages of nourishment, satisfaction, and overflowing, the person becomes able to be a merchant of the word. This means that the person will share what he or she reads and enjoys it with others. It is comparable to a merchant on earth who has different stages with respect to the value and size of his or her business. As this merchant becomes more and more successful, the size of the business also grows. Likewise, a merchant of God’s word can grow in the size of their spiritual trade by sharing the word of God that they enjoy every day with more and more people and with broader and broader horizons. Furthermore, with the evolution of social media, it has become easier for every person to trade and share God’s life-giving word with everyone by sharing it with their relatives and friends, so that it can become the topic of discussion and a source of contemplation between many groups, and, in this way, their conversations may be wrapped around it so that it may be their source of delight, fulfilment, comfort, and guidance along all their paths.

 It was said about Ezra the priest that he was a skilled scribe in the word of God (Ezra 7:6). Therefore, he was a great teacher and a strong leader in a dark age. In that age, he led the people of Israel after their return from captivity to a great popular repentance.

There is no man gladder than he who works in trading the word of God. This type of trade is more precious than trading in worldly treasures such as gold, silver, and precious stones (Psalm 19:10 and Psalm 119:72). In this spiritual trade, we buy from God His precious word for free (Isaiah 55:1 and Revelations 22:17). Furthermore, we resell it to people for free and offer it to them in a form and language that is fitting for them so that it may revive their hearts, fill their souls, and enlighten their thoughts.

What an amazing trade!

Don’t you, oh beloved reader, long to become a skilled merchant of God’s word, to be rich and to enrich many?!