By Teagan Adams, Notre Dame
Chaos and Confusion
Who am I? This is the most central question to the human person. The answer one receives is of the utmost importance—it can influence the trajectory of his or her life. Unfortunately, modern culture offers many “answers” to this crucial question, which can only truly be answered by God: social media, gender-affirming surgery, prestige, money, etc. Suicide rates among men are more than disturbing, and confusion abounds regarding simple questions like, What is a woman? and, When does life begin? This nonsensical chaos has made its appearance in only the most recent decades and, alarmingly, has spread to many people in the Church, both clergy and laymen. Where did we go wrong? What have we forgotten about ourselves that we feel the need to search in all the wrong places to try to solve the central mystery of our humanity? We have forgotten the core Biblical truth about our identity: we are made imago Dei, in the image of God, and that, through Baptism, we become beloved sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father. How do we rediscover this truth, the truth that not only satisfies our deepest longing but also
provides us with the security and confidence needed to settle the chaos around us and within the Church? First, we must rediscover our identity through what God the Father has revealed to us in His Word. Then, we look to St. Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus, to learn how his fatherhood leads us to a deeper understanding of how God treasures, loves, and fathers each of us and bestows on us our true identity.
“In his own image”
In the Creation account of Genesis, God creates the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. God claims that all his work is good. But He then creates something peculiar—a creature very much like the beasts of the field, yet very much different. God creates something “in his own image.” (1) (Gen 1:27) A creature given life with His very breath and entrusted with dominion over all the rest of Creation. God calls this creature “man,” and then, only when man is alive, created in God’s image and likeness, does the Divine Artist see that his painting is “very good.” (2) (Gen 1:31) In fact, man is the Artist’s final brush stroke on the canvas. He steps back from his work and admires it, understanding that his work is “finished.” (3) (Gen 2:2) Man is indeed the summit of creation, a being unlike the rest of God’s creatures. (4)
The uniqueness of the human is something worth pondering. God did not stop His work of art after He created the heavens and the earth and all that dwell therein. Rather, He desired to create something which would be able to share His own divine life and to know and love Him intimately. Gaudium et Spes reminds us that man “is the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake.” (5) Rocks, trees, and grass cannot know God. Neither can dogs, cats, and guinea pigs (as loveable as they are as pets) love their Creator. Only humans are given “the dignity of a person,” (6) able to enter into communion with the One who created the universe. The profound reality of being a human might be lost on us, because we have heard again and again that we are made in God’s image (and rightly so!). But it is indeed worth reemphasizing the truth that man is the only creature in all creation willed by God to know and love Him in return. However, if being made imago Dei is so central to our identity as humans, why do all of us go searching for something that will leave us fulfilled (sex, money, drugs, prestige, etc.)? If I ought to know I am made with a purpose—to know and love my Creator in return—why do I struggle to find purpose in my life? Why do I search for something to bestow on me my identity? And even if I know my identity, why do I often find myself turning to something other than God? The answer is found in Scripture.
The Fall
Adam and Eve succumb to temptation when the serpent presents the opportunity to “be like God.” (7) (Gen 3:5) The serpent plants in them a seed of distrust and suspicion towards God. But the cunning creature also does something extremely subtle in doing so: he causes Adam and Eve to question their identity. As the first humans God created, they live in harmony with Him, themselves, and the rest of Creation. Adam and Eve know their Creator intimately and fully understand who they are in relation to Him (they are His creatures, and He is their Creator) for they are “unimpaired and ordered in [their] whole being.” (8) However, in the moment of temptation, the serpent causes Eve to think: Did God lie to me? Is my Creator hiding something? I thought He loved me and wanted the best for me. Eve is no longer content with being the creature; she grasps for something she is not meant to be, the Creator. In reaching above the limits of her creatureliness to find a new identity, she forgets her true identity as a being willed by God to know and love Him in return. Eve, in grasping for the fruit, demonstrates her distrust in both her Creator and who her Creator made her to be. Where is Adam in his wife’s trying hour? He is certainly nearby, for Eve handed him the fruit of the tree after she ate of it. Adam, given by God the responsibility for all within the garden (including Eve!), fails to protect his wife. He sits there and watches. Adam’s passivity in guarding his wife from the serpent and grasping for more along with Eve causes him to lose his own identity in turn. After permitting the serpent’s lies about their identity to slither into their minds, Adam and Eve introduce original sin. Like a tiny crack that eventually spreads all across a glass, humanity’s original sin set off a series of sins against God, fellow humans, and the rest of creation, the effects of which stretch across time to the present day.
Fatherhood and St. Joseph
And how well we see this crack in the windshield today, especially in Western culture! It is worth noting that the chaos described in the opening paragraph is wreaking havoc in an era when fathers are least present. (9) If the effects of not having a human father present in the house to lead, guard, and tend to his family are real, (10) how much will those negative consequences be magnified when the Heavenly Father’s children do not recognize His presence in their lives? Or, even worse, when they do not understand that they are His beloved sons and daughters? No human guidance and protection lead to no divine guidance and protection. A lack of physical direction leads to a lack of spiritual direction. It is not the case that God is not trying to lead and guard His children. On the contrary, they tragically don’t even know Him to recognize His voice. Thus, confusion and chaos ensue in the world and in the Church.
This is where St. Joseph can come in and save the day. As Jesus developed from infancy to adulthood, he learned his humanity from others around him: how to use his body to speak, eat, work with tools, and care for others. No doubt he learned almost all of this from Joseph and Mary, even how to pray (think about that—humans teaching God how to pray!). (11)
Imagine the weight of this responsibility for both Mary and Joseph: God has entrusted them with raising…God Himself! Joseph might have felt more pressure to keep up his end—Mary was (and is!) the perfect mother, while he was Jesus’ imperfect—and not even biological—father. Nevertheless, Joseph succeeded marvelously in showing his son the face of His Heavenly Father. Pope Francis gives us a beautiful image of Joseph’s fatherhood: “I like to think that it was from Saint Joseph that Jesus drew inspiration for the parable of the prodigal son and the merciful father.” (12) Jesus, as he matured and came to a fuller understanding of his own identity as God’s Beloved Son, looked to Joseph for guidance. In him He saw mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and love—all of which Jesus could recognize in and associate with His Heavenly Father. We can imagine that in His Passion, it was Joseph’s example of silence, obedience, and selfless love that gave Him strength to endure his sufferings. What acts on Jesus acts on the Church, and vice versa. (13) If we allow ourselves, we can be fathered by St. Joseph as Jesus did and ask him to show us the face of the Heavenly Father. In doing so, the words spoken to us at our Baptism will take on deeper meaning. We can experience our Father’s love and delight for us anew when we hear Him say, “You are my beloved son/daughter. With you I am well pleased.”
Baptism, Identity, and Mission
Before Jesus begins his salvific mission, He is baptized in the Jordan and hears the words of His Father, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. (14) (Mk 1:11) Only then does He enter the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Secure and confident in His identity, Jesus faces the devil and resists him. In fact, Satan deploys the same trap he used with Adam and Eve. He says to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God…” (15) (Mt 4:3, 5), trying to make Jesus doubt his identity. Unlike Adam, Jesus trusts that what His Father has told Him is true—He remains steadfast in His trust that He is the Beloved Son of God. It is this confidence in His identity that allows Jesus to preach the Gospel, to heal the sick, and offer salvation—and He established a Church meant to do the same.
The times are chaotic—how will the Church respond? Do Her members know they are the beloved sons and daughters of the Father? Christians need to rediscover this core truth by pondering anew what it means to be a human, Christian, and beloved child of the Father. With the help of St. Joseph, we can be confident and secure in our identity as the sons and daughters of the Eternal King. Just as Jesus resists Satan and begins his salvific ministry after His Baptism, so too do we, His Body, fight the forces of evil and settle the chaos within and without only when secure in our identity.
Footnotes
1 Genesis 1:27 (Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition).
2 Genesis 1:31 (Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition).
3 Genesis 2:2 (Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition).
4 Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 343.
5 Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes [Church in the Modern World], Dec, 7, 1965, no. 24, https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-
spes_en.html
6 Catechism, no. 357.
7 Genesis 3:5 (Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition).
8 Catechism, no. 377
9 U.S. Census Bureau, “Percentage and Number of Children Living With Two Parents Has Dropped Since 1968, accessed August 9, 2025. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/04/number-of-children-living-only-with-their-
mothers-has-doubled-in-past-50-years.html.
10 Children living in a fatherless family are more likely to perform worse academically, become obese, and commit suicide. Anya Kamenetz, “Poverty, Dropouts, Pregnancy, Suicide: What the Numbers Say About Fatherless Kids,’ NPR, June 18, 2017, https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/06/18/533062607/poverty-dropouts-pregnancy-suicide-what-the-numbers-say-about-fatherless-kids.
11 Fr. Boniface Hicks, OSB, Through the Heart of St. Joseph, (Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Road Publishing, 2021), 53.
12 Pope Francis, “Patris Corde,” December 8, 2020, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco-lettera-ap_20201208_patris-corde.html.
13 See Acts 9:4.
14 Mark 1:11 (Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition).
15 Matthew 4:3, 5 (Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition).