A certain hollowness must have filled the 
disciples when Jesus rose from the dead, and especially the women who had loved Jesus so much. Last week this was very confusing to Jesus’ followers to find the very centre of their lives had been taken away. Then he appeared to them only to disappear again at the Ascension! Jesus’ new presence did not last so very long. It was joyous, yes, but why did he have to go away for good.
One way of looking at it is to say that Jesus had graduated from life into LIFE. Having tunnelled through the narrow passageway of death- as you and I will do one day- he had given everything he was and everything he possessed to the Father out of sheer love. Instead of there being nothing left, there was now humanity transformed, a divine human person who had opened up all the way. He was marked with the totality of love and was on his way back to the dynamic, swirling, Trinitarian circle of love from which his humanity had issued in the first place. He lingered after the Resurrection only to tell us about it, to comfort us, to ease the loss. “Stay in Jerusalem until my Spirit comes to fill you heart,” Jesus said to his followers.
Let us wait in joy for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit can help us accept Jesus’ whole life, death, and resurrection as they settle into us and into others around us, abiding forever in our midst.