Luke 2:12
“’This will be a sign to you:  You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’”

Luke 23:52-53
“Going to Pilate, [Joseph of Arimathea] asked for Jesus’ body.  Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock…”

Psalm 104:1-2a
“Praise the Lord, O my soul.  O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty.  He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent…”

Incarnate Deity, you wear holiness and splendour like robes adorning royal shoulders.

For a time you clothed yourself in the fabric of humanity, encasing your divinity first in the blankets of a baby and then in a burial shroud.

As you wore our earthly garments, call us to put on heavenly dress.  Take from us the garb of our selfish pride and exchange it for raiment washed clean in your righteousness.

This we ask in Jesus’ name, who wrapped himself in death’s linen only to rise triumphant, dressed in glorious light.

Listen to ‘Mary’s Song’ by Ordinary Time