Veni Creator Spiritus

By Fr. Gavin Dunbar

May 14, 2026

St. Luke depicted in the Chapel of St. John’s Church in Savannah.

Veni Creator Spiritus

This Sunday falls between Ascension Day and Whitsunday – between the ascent of Christ to the Father’s right hand, and the descent of the Holy Ghost upon his disciples; between his commissioning of them to bear witness unto the ends of the earth, and his empowering of them for that mission. And how did the disciples spend those intervening days of expectant waiting? St Luke tells us that they returned to Jerusalem, to the upper room they had use of, where “these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication” (Acts 1:14), waiting upon the promised gift of the Father.

That upper room is one of the great images of the Church. The apostles have received their commission, but they do not yet rush into it. They wait. They pray. They seek from God what they do not possess in themselves. The Church does not begin in self-confidence, organization, or technique, but in dependence upon God. Before there is action, there is prayer; before there is mission, there is waiting upon the Holy Ghost.

No doubt the disciples felt utterly inadequate to the task before them. They had fresh in their memories their own failure to stand by Jesus in his passion. And yet they had also seen him risen from the dead, and had themselves been restored and reinstated by his mercy. They already knew that though it was not in them to follow Christ faithfully, or to bear witness to him before the world, it was his gift that they should do so. And therefore they prayed earnestly for that gift.

Indeed, prayer itself depends upon these two things: radical humility and supreme confidence. We must know that we are insufficient in ourselves; but we must also trust entirely in the promise of Christ. That is why the Prayer Book teaches us so insistently to acknowledge our sins: not to leave us in despair, but to drive us out of all self-reliance, that we may rely wholly upon him.

St Luke names the eleven surviving apostles, the symbolic patriarchs of God’s new Israel, who form a core of leadership within the company of disciples. But he also makes clear that they belong to a much larger body of believers – about one hundred and twenty gathered together in prayer. And among them, he singles out two groups for special attention: “the women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brethren.” The women disciples occupy a remarkably prominent place in the Gospel narratives, and especially in St Luke. He tells us of those women who accompanied Jesus and ministered unto him (Luke 8:1–3); and it is these women who remain faithful witnesses at the cross, the burial, and the empty tomb, even when many of the apostles falter in fear. Their presence in the upper room anticipates the great promise of Pentecost itself: “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy… and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit” (Acts 2:17–18). The apostolic ministry remains distinct, yet the gift of the Spirit is poured out upon the whole people of God. The praise of God and the witness to Christ are not reserved to a spiritual elite. Again and again in the history of the Church, the faithful witness of Christian women has proved indispensable to the life of Christ’s body and even to the ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons themselves. Even or especially here at St. John’s!

Luke also draws attention to “Mary the mother of Jesus”, alongside his “brethren”. Yet the distinction between them is important. The brothers of Jesus had once regarded him with misunderstanding and unbelief; but now they are numbered among the disciples because they too have come to faith in him. Even the natural family of Jesus must enter the kingdom by faith and by the Spirit. Flesh alone cannot generate the new creation.

But Mary stands in a unique place among them. For she alone already knows by experience what it is to receive the Holy Ghost for the coming forth of Christ into the world. “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee” (Luke 1:35). At Nazareth, the Spirit formed Christ within Mary’s body; at Pentecost, the same Spirit will form Christ within his mystical body, the Church. And perhaps this too explains Mary’s presence in the upper room. The woman who answered the angel, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word,” becomes an image of the praying Church herself: waiting in humility, receptivity, obedience, and hope for the promised gift of God.

What the disciples did in those days between Ascension and Pentecost, the Church continues to do throughout the ages. For we also live between Christ’s ascension and his final appearing; we also have been entrusted with a mission beyond our strength; and we also wait continually upon the gift and power of the Holy Ghost.

For our prayers in this time of expectant waiting, we might make use of this translation by Austin Farrer of the ancient hymn for the coming of the Holy Ghost, Veni Creator Spiritus: