Reflections on the Resurrection from St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Apr 05, 2024

It is very easy to transition into the Easter Season with a certain sense of relief that we can cut back on the extra devotions characteristic of Lent. But obviously it is good to make some Lenten observances permanent, and this applies especially to good habits we might develop in meditation and other forms of prayer. That’s why it occurred to me to look through our CatholicCulture.org library to make a list of the reflections on the Resurrection that had been offered during previous Easter seasons by two of our most recent great popes, St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

CatholicCulture.org (including its predecessor PetersNet.net) existed only for the last ten years of St. John Paul II’s pontificate, but for all of Benedict’s, and in the days before nearly everything was already on the web, we were adding things like special homilies and general audience addresses to our library. As a modest bonus, if you are interested in the arguments in favor of the Resurrection of Christ, I can also offer my chapter from the book of apologetics Reasons for Hope on The Resurrection and Divinity of Christ.

Our library also includes an interesting reflection by the second-century apologist Athenagoras of Athens On the Resurrection of the Dead. And of course you can find other works of interest in our collection of the Fathers of the Church. But here are seven brief homilies and general audiences reflecting on the Resurrection by Pope St. John Paul II and fifteen by Pope Benedict XVI—ideal in length for convenient reading, reflection and prayer as part of your routine for the remainder of this year’s Easter Season.

Pope St. John Paul II

• Christ’s Resurrection Was a Concrete Event, April 24, 1996
• Our Bodies Will Share in the Resurrection, November 4, 1998
• Trinity Is Present in Christ’s Resurrection, May 10, 2000
• Pope’s Homily for Easter Vigil, Easter 2001, April 14, 2001
• Urbi et Orbi Message and Blessing, Easter 2001, April 15, 2001
• Human History Is Fulfilled In Paschal Mystery, April 3, 2002
• God Has Exalted Him!, April 7, 2004

Pope Benedict XVI

• Jesus Goes Before Us to the Father, May 26, 2005
• ‘I, but No Longer I!’, April15, 2006
• Jesus Is Risen, and He Gives Us Peace, April 16, 2006
• I Arose, and Am Still with You, April 7, 2007
• Witnesses of Christ’s Death and His Passage to a New Life, April 11, 2007
• Christ Gives Us the Certainty of Our Own Resurrection, March 26, 2008
• St Paul: The Importance of Christology: the Decisiveness of the Resurrection, November 3, 2008
• The Cross and the Resurrection Are Inseparable, April 11, 2009
• Christ Frees Us from the “Old Yeast” of Sin, April 12, 2009
• Power of Love Annihilates Forces of Evil and Death, April 15, 2009
• Octave of Easter, April 7, 2010
• Octave of Easter, April 27, 2011
• Remembering Our Mortality, Welcoming God and Hoping for the Resurrection, February 2, 2012 (Ash Wednesday)
• Faith in Christ Transforms Our Lives, Frees Us from Fear and Fills Us with Hope, April 11, 2012
• Christians’ Firm Hope in the Resurrection, November 3, 2012