Why were they attending Mass so often? What position did the Church take on national events?

Throughout this chapter, Patria also links herself to Jesus in her suffering. The very first line is, "I don't know how it happened that my cross became bearable," following Jesus’ injunction to take up the cross and follow his ways. Also, as Jesus carried a cross and wore a crown of thorns in part as political torture, Patria says, "My crown of thorns was woven of thoughts of my boy." Also, until Padre de Jesus was arrested, gives a revolutionary sermon, the church was a place of revolutionary ideas against Trujillo.