Page 28 - Demo1

28Humans of the Church
Italian duo with sights set on an Australian visit
Soaring as god wills
By Selina Venier
ALESSANDRO Gallo’s current reality is a world away from two decades’ ago.
The former drug user gazed out onto the popu- lar Italian visitors’ destination where he once “more than dabbled” in various addictions.
He and wife Francesca were in Prato della Valle, Padua, in Italy’s north, where their band Reale, meaning “real”, were preparing to greet an energetic crowd of hundreds.
Prato della Valle is a picturesque meeting place for visitors and locals with remnants of the Roman arena it once was, with numerous statues of popes and other important gures, as one of the largest squares in Europe.
The musical encounter was anticipated beside the steps of the Basilica of Santa (Saint) Gius- tina, Alessandro recalling when the surrounds weren’t so picturesque.
“The piazza didn’t always look like this,” he said. “(And) it’s true that almost twenty years ago I’d use drugs here ... in fact, just over there.”
The 35-year-old motioned without hesitation and said, “I never thought the moment would come when I’d be singing (the song), ‘Lord, I’m here for you’ in this very place.”
About an hour later, Alessandro did exactly that and more, rst sharing of his extraordinary journey from life on the streets to life as hus- band, father and Reale frontman.
“After that time of using drugs I found Jesus in people and holy places I went,” he said.
“I went to Medjugorje ... (and) lived among a faith community of young people called Cena- colo (translated as the ‘upper room’).
“It wasn’t like there was a cataclysmic event, I simply lived there.
“In adoration (of the Blessed Sacrament), I knelt down because everyone did.”
Alessandro said he was told he “wasn’t sick”
but “lazy”, compelled to remain on his knees in prayer, searching for answers.
“When you go out into the sun, you don’t see straight away the effects but it happens,” he said.
“My encounter with Jesus in adoration was like that. I didn’t know it was happening but over time, I was changing.”
Francesca was also living among the Cena- colo community but the two had no time for each other, the quick-witted singer saying she “couldn’t stand him at rst”.
“I wasn’t looking for love at the time,” Ales- sandro said. “I wanted to do missionary work, I had other ideas.”
With a shared passion for singing, the duo continued to follow the community’s guidance, Francesca saying they were both in need of heal- ing and direction.
“The change in me was very, very slow,” she said. “My encounter with Jesus was in my suf- fering and I said, ‘Take my life’. I didn’t want to in the beginning but the community called us to face truth and that’s dif cult, for many people.
“I realised without Jesus, I’m nothing, that I couldn’t change without Him.
“We call it ‘Christ therapy’.
“There’s no medicine ... there’s an acceptance that God changes things in His time, not ours.” Alessandro echoed his wife’s words and was
animated about the truths he uncovered in com- munity living.
“Young people ask me all the time why I believe in Jesus,” he said.
“I tell them it’s because I’ve tried everything in life. (I’ve tried) sex, drugs, alcohol, and noth- ing worked.
“The only thing that works is prayer.”
In 2009, from humble beginnings of shared vocals to testify to their faith in God, with Ales- sandro on guitar and Francesca playing percus- sion, Reale was born.
They wrote and produced their rst album, Come nessun’ altro (Like no one else) but laugh about it today saying they were “still nding
their feet”.
Their rst album was the “result of ten years
of conversion, change and choices”, they said. Reale’s fan base grew with its unique and
original “Christian rock music” style, and it con- tinued to pray for musicians to join them.
In 2014, the band produced Kairos, a work its members said was for the evangelisation of young people at a “very opportune time” in the life of the Church.
It has well known songs like Sono Figlio Di un Re (I am the son of a King) and Luce (Light), assembled with concert recordings from various Italian cities.
“The songs on Kairos are the fruit of two years of concerts, testimonies and life,” Ales- sandro said.
Luce came to fame after World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2013.
The band’s third album is the 2016 work Serpente e Colombe (Serpents and Doves), described as its “ rst real rock album”.
“(In Serpente e Colombe) we’ve a de nite for- mula, the mission is clear and we aren’t fearful,” Alessandro said.
He’s proud the song Ora mi Fermo (Now I’ll Stop) was used as the theme song for the 2016 Marcia Francescana (Franciscan March), in Assisi.
Today, following more prayer when they lacked a drummer, the man who lled the space is “an unbeliever” but this too was the work of God, Alessandro said.
“He has his doubts but he stays with us,” the frontman said. “This is a good sign because for us, it is God.”
With children Samuele, 10, and Gioia, 5, the musical duo “live for God” and nothing gives them greater joy than to pass onto younger gen- erations, a love of the faith and the Church.
Alessandro struggles however with the barri- ers that the band encounters.
“When I went to Brazil, my eyes were opened to their way of praying, or worship, of every-
thing,” he said.
“They would go to Mass for three hours and
not even consider the length. The people were so joyful in their faith.”
He and Francesca long for a universal Church with enlivened worship where its foundations are ever present and “people aren’t afraid to sing about Jesus and the Holy Spirit”.
“We need God in every which way,” Franc- esca said.
She’s conscious of the “need to draw near to Jesus at all times”, reiterating, “by myself, I can’t do anything.”
“I need Jesus to help with my mothering, in my loving without hesitation, in offering forgive- ness,” she said.
“To receive that help we all should be kneel- ing (in prayer) four or ve times a day.
“(And) we need to leave time for God to talk. We can’t do all the talking.”
Encountering countless young people in their concerts, mostly in northern Italy, Reale has its sights set on an Australian visit and the members said they found inspiration and commonality
in Brisbane band emmanuelworship who, next month, will front Emmanuel Community’s Ignite Conference.
An Australian visit and perhaps attending a future Ignite is high on Reale’s prayer list, as much as is continuing to follow not its will but the will of God.
“God gave me this gift (of writing music) and I want to use it for His glory,” Alessandro said. “We want to keeping singing about our God who came into this world to help us understand
how to live with greater joy and how to unite that joy with Christ.
“There’s freedom in moving away from the things that cause harm and remaining close to God. That’s the ultimate ‘high’.
“We’ve many projects and dreams; we’ll see what God wants us to do.”
More about Reale can be found on iTunes or at www.realemusica.it
www.catholicleader.com.au
The Catholic Leader, August 27, 2017
New heights:
Alessan- dro Gallo land wife Francesca Condorin.