Are The Loss Of Faith In Julia Alvarez's In The Time Of The Butterflies

989 Words4 Pages

In the movie ‘Heaven Is For Real’ while Todd Burpo’s son, Colton, lay on his hospital bed in critical condition, Todd becomes infuriated with God and says, “You made me suffer and I took that. You made my family suffer and I took that. Now you want to take my SON?!” How could a loving God do such a thing? This is the question most people ask when someone precious to them passes away, while they sulk and go on a ‘I Hate God’ rampage. After, this results in a loss of faith. They might wonder could they have saved their loved one and if God was so angry with them that He would punish them by taking a family member. Yet, they rarely stop to think think what they’ve gained from that loss. In Alvarez’s book ‘In The Time Of The Butterflies,’ Patria goes through this same mental struggle …show more content…

While waiting in line to get to the altar Patria looks at a picture of the Virgin Mary as Mate begins to pray. When she turned back and looked out into the pews she felt her faith ‘stir’ and come back to life. As she joined in with the prayer she questions the Virgencita saying “Here I am, Virgencita. Where are you?” And unexpectedly, she received her answer “Here, Patria Mercedes, I’m here, all around you. I’ve already more than appeared.” This showed that even though she abandoned the Lord, the Lord didn’t abandon her and he even sent the Virgin Mary to her but since she had lost her faith she wasn’t aware of her presence. Through the rest of the book Patria is faced with troubles yet she doesn't give up on her faith. When the church is being bombed she continues to pray. After she watches a young man die, she joins the revolution with the church. While in meetings she would cry out “Amen to the revolution!” And during her sisters’ imprisonment, she kept the house filled with prayer. This part in particular shows that even though she had lost her sisters, she kept her

Open Document