Joel 4:12-21 / Luke 11:27-28
It is a fact that babies have a special attention and intimate affiliation to their mothers' voices.
In other words, babies respond more readily to their mothers' voices, because it is a voice that they had heard since the time they were in the womb.
At the same time, we can also say that the mother will have a special attention to her baby's cry.
In a room that may have other babies making all sorts of sounds, a mother can instinctively pick out her baby's cry and attend to it immediately.
Such is the level of attention and intimacy that Jesus is talking about when He said that blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.
It is like that of a baby who has a special attention to its mother's voice because of the intimate relationship with the mother.
Yes, the Word of God resonates and calls for a deep intimacy in our hearts so that when God speaks to us, we will listen and act on it.
Yet, we also know that communication is not a one way relationship. God also listens when we cry out to Him.
Just as mothers will immediately respond to their babies' cry, God will also respond immediately when we cry out in our distress.
And when God responds, it will be like what the 1st reading described: The Lord roars from Zion, makes His voice heard from Jerusalem.
The Lord's voice is loud enough if we really want to listen. Just as we speak to God, God will also speak to us.