Is our Christian nation Catholic enough?

Given the events of the last three months, this question becomes particularly compelling for us Filipinos, who are mostly Catholic Christians, as Holy Week begins. In mid-January, six million of us gathered at Manila’s Rizal Park to show Pope Francis our deepest affection as he poured himself out in a great apostolic act of mercy, compassion and hope for the poor. Sin and crime appeared to have fled to some distant corner, overwhelmed by the piety and goodness that one could almost touch. We had become a holy people. And yet before January ended, evil reclaimed its space and threatened to cancel all the goodness that had transformed our God-fearing nation. The Mamasapano massacre and all the official lying about it happened.

How does one explain this apparent disconnect? Is it part of the good to force evil from the depths into the open so that the forces of good may subdue it, as when Christ told the Tempter that even the Devil was supposed to submit to God. Or do good and evil normally alternate, each to its own season, as in Ecclesiastes? This is a matter for deep theological reflection, which I am not competent to handle. But with all my limitations, I would like to venture some practical considerations.