Throughout In the Time of the Butterflies, Alvarez illuminates the role of spirituality for the Mirabals as they confront the endless traumas inflicted upon Dominicans during the course of Trujillo’s rise to power. Observing the evils and injustices wrought by his dictatorial regime challenges the sisters to maintain courage as threats against them escalate.

In particular, before becoming politically involved with the Fourteenth of June Movement, Patria—who, instead of becoming a nun, married at seventeen—questions God’s benevolence. In the following passage, as she looks at side-by-side portraits of the Good Shepherd and El Jefe, Patria describes seeing their faces merge:

I had heard, but I had not believed. Snug in my heart, fondling my pearl, I had ignored their cries of desolation. How could our loving, all-powerful father allow us to suffer so? I looked up, challenging Him. And the two faces had merged!

While Patria struggles to reconcile her faith with both her personal losses—especially of her stillborn third child—and the other lives lost to the cause, her faith in the goodness of humanity drives her to rebel against the regime. Even as she becomes a leader in the Fourteenth of June Movement, she displays compassion towards her enemies, affirming that they are also God’s “children.” Furthermore, when the priests begin to speak out against Trujillo’s dictatorship, with Padre de Jesús publicly declaring that “all human beings are born with rights derived from God that no earthly power can take away,” a conflict erupts between the regime and the Catholic Church. This endeavor “to set at liberty them that are bruised” illustrates how members of the revolution exhibit fortitude in speaking out against the regime’s brutal policies.

As the personal journeys of the Mirabal sisters illustrate, faith fuels them to fight for freedom, and this commitment to championing human rights solidifies that faith has more power than fear. Consequently, Alvarez portrays courage as a marker of growth by painting the ways that each character transforms in confronting constant threats of death. As a result of their persistence in speaking out against injustice and advocating for personal liberties, the Mirabals’ fierce faith in humanity’s integrity helps transform the Dominican Republic into a thriving country.