From the Gospel according to Mark 7:1-13

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
(For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.) So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?”
He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
In vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
He went on to say,
“How well you have set aside the commandment of Godv in order to uphold your tradition! For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother,
and Whoever curses father or mother shall die. Yet you say, ‘If someone says to father or mother,
“Any support you might have had from me is qorban”‘ (meaning, dedicated to God), you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.”

The Gospel of the Lord

What is your gorban?

God does not want cold, mechanical obedience to rules; God wants your heart. “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” And that wounds God, because He did not create us for distance, but for communion. God wants your heart close to His, not your good deeds carried out apart from Him. Holiness is not a race toward outward perfection or a checklist of rules completed; it is God’s invitation to live united to Him in a living, burning relationship of love.
Yet how hard it is for us to realize that this is about loving, not just doing. And so we distort everything: we misorder love, we focus on actions instead of the heart, and we even end up using “the law” as an excuse not to love. In this way, we drift away from God while believing—what a terrible deception—that we are serving Him. But God does not want busy, distant servants; He wants friends. “I no longer call you servants; I call you friends.” He wants intimacy, constant closeness, a heart that rests in Him. He is not interested in service that does not spring from love.
Be attentive, because this same lie easily creeps into marriage. We create our own personal “gorbans,” so pious, so reasonable, so justifiable, that they keep us from truly loving and from building real communion: “The children need me more than you do,” “I have to take care of my parents,” “There’s so much to do at the parish,” “My friend is going through a hard time.” Everything is good. Everything matters. But when everything is always placed ahead of one’s spouse, we fail to build the love of communion we so deeply long for.
In the end, we stop welcoming the heart of the one to whom we gave our own in covenant, and we stop offering our own as well. First love is pushed aside, left to wither, and this painful verdict can be spoken: “This wife, this husband, honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”

Applied to married Life.

Robert: Leslie do you love me?
Leslie : Robert, after all these years together, why would you even ask that?
Robert: I know, but tell me…
Leslie: Didn’t I marry you?
Robert: Yes—and I married you—but do you love me?
Leslie:What is this obsession? Don’t we have two children? Don’t I iron your shirts? Don’t I cook for you? Don’t I buy your clothes?
Robert: Yes… but do you love me?

Mother,

teach us to love Jesus the way He longs to be loved.Praised be Jesus and Mary.