Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God. - Lk 24: 50-53
The first of Luke's two accounts of the Lord's Ascension - and Luke was the only canonical writer to record this event - has fewer details than the one in The Acts of the Apostles.
The disciples are not filled with dismay at the Lord's departure from them, as they were when they thought his life had ended in tragedy. They are not sad for themselves at his absence, but rather are now experiencing "great joy." Have they taken to heart the Lord's words that they should be glad for his sake that he returns to the Father? Blessing God is a hallmark of those who have encountered the risen Lord, even today when we do so by the Holy Spirit. In his gospel account, I think that Luke doesn't separate out the Pentecost experience of the Holy Spirit descending upon the apostles, which emboldened them for the witnessing to which he briefly refers in these last words of the gospel.
This is the last step of the Exercises, and I'm a little disappointed that there isn't one on the Holy Spirit and Pentecost, but I will probably reflect on that between concluding this step sometime before the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost itself. In fact, I might do a sort of novena of reflecting, and there are plenty of scriptures to turn to for that purpose. I will leave further contemplation of the apostles' joy for then.
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