God’s love “rains” in Maries County

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St. Alexander parish in Belle took “Big Jesus” on parade to kick off the city of Belle’s 77th Annual Community Fair.

This was the third consecutive summer that parishioners took Jesus to the streets of Belle.

They’ve also done so during the town’s Christmas parade in December for two consecutive years.

The Divine Mercy, “Jesus I Trust in You” image has a history that began with a young nun named Sister Faustina, who lived in Poland during the 1930s.

She kept notebooks of the revelations and messages she received from Jesus. Her notebooks are now known as the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska.

There is much to know about the image and all the details. One of the main details is that of the rays.

The red ray symbolizes Christ’s Blood shed for the salvation of all humanity, and the pale ray represents the water that flowed from Christ’s side during his crucifixion.

The main message is that Jesus’s Love and Mercy are for all humanity. He died for everyone’s salvation. No sin is greater than His mercy if only we Trust in Him!

Wednesday, June 4, turned out to be quite a rainy day. The Belle parade officials debated whether to reschedule the event, but they decided to go on with it as planned.

St. Alexander Parish gathered up family, friends, the float, the tractor, the truck, the candy labeled with Sacred Scripture, and the umbrellas and rolled out to spread Jesus’s love and mercy to the people watching on the streets of Belle.

It was raining “cats and dogs” at the beginning of the parade. As the lineup began in front of Ken Stanfield’s house, even his dog looked concerned, wondering why his owner was heading out in the rain.

Although the parade participants were a little soggy, the rain did not stop them from having a good time.

Jesus stood tall through the rain, and halfway through the parade route, the rain stopped, and the parade walkers were able to put their umbrellas down.

They even had more walkers join them halfway through the route.

This year, the float was pulled by a tractor. Along with the tractor, there was a truck in front of the tractor and a float. The truck displayed other signs, such as Remember the Unborn and the Christmas Nativity.

All of these signs are manufactured in Washington, at the Divine Mercy Ministry of St. Francis Borgia Parish.

St. Alexander Parish in Belle continues the mission of spreading Jesus’s love, mercy, and forgiveness to all. Jesus’s love reigns and “rains” for all.

Remember to thank and praise Jesus through all the sunny and rainy situations in life!

Anita Frey is a parishioner of St. Alexander parish and enjoys helping her husband, Randy, coordinate the church float.

For information on the Divine Mercy Sign Ministry, call 636-667-7867 or call Anita at 816-804-3127.