As we enter the season of Advent, our minds often turn to Mary, as we journey towards the birth of her Son. The Advent Story, the written account of the private revelation Servant of God Cora Evans received on the birth and early life of Christ, begins similarly. We are told that following the Annunciation, Mary confided the news of the Messiah’s conception to one high priest. Being the first (and only) born of her parents, Mary attended the School of the House of David, where this high priest was a professor. Interestingly, Joseph, also being the first-born of his parents, would have likewise attended the School of the House of David. 

The holy women and teachers at these schools wove and embroidered swaddling clothes for the kings born in the lineage of David. In hopeful anticipation, every 25 years, they would set aside a special set of swaddling clothes for the Messiah. It was this high priest in whom Mary confided who allowed her to take the swaddling clothes that had been set aside for the Messiah.

There is much material here for us to ponder as we begin this holy and hopeful season of Advent. Of course, much ink has already been spilled on the immense symbolism of Christ’s infant swaddling clothes being a parallel to the linen shroud the women wrapped Jesus’ Body in before laying Him in the tomb. Just as Mary will take these kingly swaddling cloths to wrap her newborn Baby in and lay Him in a manager, she will also receive His Body as It is taken down from the Cross, wrap Him in linens, and lay Him in a tomb. Even at the moment of Christ’s first Bodily breath, God is revealing His purpose in becoming man. All of Christ’s life, from the beginning to the end, points to the consummation of His ultimate sacrifice and the completion of His Paschal Mystery. 

The only Scriptural mention of the swaddling clothes used by Mary for the Infant Jesus is in the beginning of Luke’s Gospel: “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth [sometimes translated as swaddling clothes], and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Lk 2:7). The swaddling clothes are not mentioned in the other Gospels and they are not mentioned again, after they have served their purpose during His newborn days. 

However, we also know that Christ being laid in the tomb is not the end; it does not complete His final triumph over death. Christ’s death frees us from the slavery to sin and death precisely because death does not defeat Him. Instead, His Paschal Mystery is not complete until Jesus has risen from the dead and ascended back to Heaven. The God-Man has been killed but death does not have the final say; the powers of death are no more as He rises and ascends, in His wounded Body, to the throne of His Father in Heaven. 

Although the swaddling clothes are not mentioned again in Scripture, we can find mention of the linens and burial cloths that He had been wrapped and laid in the tomb in. In the Gospel of John, the author relates the account of finding the empty tomb: “He [John] bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.  Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself” (Jn 20:5-7). In the Gospel of Luke, the linens are again mentioned: “But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened” (LK 24:12). The burial cloths are not mentioned in the Gospel accounts of Matthew and Mark. But Luke and John are in agreement, after Jesus had risen, the linen cloths were put aside, by themselves. They are never mentioned again. Perhaps this is the true end of the swaddling clothes; they prefigured Christ’s death at His birth and now that His triumph over death is complete, neither swaddling clothes nor burial cloths are needed again. 

But, as the revelation Cora Evans received points out, the death of Christ is not the only important symbolism behind His swaddling clothes. She tells us that these are not any swaddling clothes, but swaddling clothes woven and designed for a king. A reading of the New Testament is incomplete without the prophesies and prefigurements of the Old Testament. In the book of Wisdom, it is written: “And when I was born, I began to breathe the common air, and fell upon the kindred earth; my first sound was a cry, as is true of all. I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths. For no king has had a different beginning of existence” (Wisdom 7:3-5, emphasis added). Although He knew that He would not be a King in the way the Jews were hoping for, Christ starts His life as all other kings in the lineage of David did: by being wrapped in kingly swaddling clothes. From the beginning, Christ acts as a king, although His Kingship is far greater and far different than any human being could have imagined. 

As we journey through Advent, let us prepare our hearts to welcome the newborn King who will suffer for us!