Brent Withers

About Brent Withers

Brent Withers is originally from New Zealand. He is now living in Farnborough, England, with his wife and three young children. He returned to the Catholic Church about ten years ago after being away for about twenty or so years. He has previously published essays with the Homiletic & Pastoral Review. Presently, he is employed as a commissioning manager for mental health services in an inner London City borough.

Through My Fault

In the beginning of the Mass in the penitential rite we all say: I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, … [Read more...]

Why Is the Gate So Narrow?

We know through the eyes of faith that God is to be seen through created things. We are called to see the innate dignity and uniqueness of each human person we meet, and the beauty of a landscape that points to the creative and wondrous … [Read more...]

Beyond the Realms of Justice

The purpose of this essay is to explore what light the deeper truths of our faith can shed on the criminal justice system. The light of faith illuminates reality so we can see all things through the life, death, and resurrection of our … [Read more...]

How Does God Forget All the Bad News?

Isn’t it fanciful to think that a prayer somehow wins graces for other people who we don’t know? The bygone era of offering up our day and the sufferings throughout the day, isn’t it an outdated devotion that surely has little merit in our t … [Read more...]

Evil as Good and Good as Evil

“Woe to those who say evil is good and good is evil . . .” (Isaiah 5:20) The response of a person who has their conscience pricked will range from one of irritation to annoyance, impatience, anger, and, depending on the state of the ind … [Read more...]

Conscience

The Echo of God's Voice

Conscience is the voice of God, whereas it is fashionable on all hands now to consider it in one way or another a creation of man.[1. John Henry Newman, in The Genius of John Henry Newman: Selections from his Writings, ed. Ian Ker (Oxford: … [Read more...]

Psychopathy

A Deeper Reality Revealed Through Catholicism

It is my hope that through the lens of the wisdom of the Church’s tradition, I am able to reveal the deeper reality that remains hidden behind the label of psychopathy. By its very nature, an exploration into the world of the psychopath s … [Read more...]

The Mystery of Hell

As the world has moved towards a relativistic stance in relation to the existence of objective truth, then the idea of hell, and the full reality of this dogma, is not surprisingly something the secular world wants to be confronted with. If … [Read more...]

The Glory of the Resurrection

The Wonder of Our Future Life

God’s desire is that we praise him and give him glory for all eternity. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is an act of praise and thanksgiving where we are invited to become consciously aware of everything God has done for us, and how our p … [Read more...]

To Repair the Face of the World

We visibly see the repairing process on a material, natural, and physical level. If a car or house has been damaged following an accident, then we see the repair work undertaken with the aim of restoring the material object to its original … [Read more...]

The Sufferings of Jesus

When we see loved ones living a lifestyle that we know will only lead to misery and tragedy, not only for themselves, but also for all those whom their life touches, we are filled with sadness, and a certain helplessness. No amount of … [Read more...]

God’s Loving Providence

We do not always see the loving providence that God has for each one of us. He has an infinite care and concern for each soul that he has created. In our own lives, God tries, in numerous ways, to wake us up from our slumber, especially if … [Read more...]

“Your Ways Are Not My Ways”

Where is God to be found in our secularized western world? It is as if the volume has been turned up on all the distractions and temptations that plague us every single day. Not just the volume, but also the intensity. Everything we see and … [Read more...]

The Excess Of Divine Love

The distance between our humanity and the divinity of God is so incomprehensible that to begin to try and imagine this distance through the eyes of faith, is to catch a glimpse of the unfathomable power of God, and immensity of his love for … [Read more...]

To Listen to the Voice of God

We all have a desire to be listened to and taken seriously. There is nothing more frustrating than not being listened to, when someone does not either look at us when we talk to him, or let us finish our sentences. It leaves us feeling … [Read more...]