Carmelite sisters receive offerings of eggs in exchange for prayers for good weather

Along busy Lacson Street, Mandalagan, you probably won’t expect a quiet monastery just steps from Robinson’s Mall. The abbey is known as the “Carmel of God’s Love” and, as its name is said, the Carmelite Sisters offer themselves to God by living a life of contemplative prayer and self-sacrifice. Since their spiritual focus is on prayer, much of the nuns’ lives are hidden from the public. Every day, the nuns receive prayer requests from the people written on paper accompanied by a donation in kind or in the form of goods. A popular token of appreciation to the Carmelite sisters is eggs accompanied by a special request for good weather. Schools in the city of Bacolod generally offered dozens of eggs to Carmelite sisters in exchange for good weather for an upcoming school trip or event. The University of St. La Salle Bacolod would offer dozens of eggs to the Carmelite sisters before their graduate students had their trip to Cebu-Bohol which usually took place at the end of the school year. Many people believe in the prayer of the sisters and many have witnessed the miraculous intercessions of the sister. This good weather egg offering not only happens in the Carmelite monastery here in Bacolod but also in other places in the Philippines. During the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Cebu, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia delivered truckloads of eggs to the Carmelite sisters. Although there was no typhoon during that time, the place has been experiencing heavy rains due to the cold front.

The donated eggs are not delivered directly to the Carmelite Sisters as they cannot leave the convent and see the people. People who want to offer eggs to the monastery must deliver the donations to a person in charge and then that person will deliver the eggs and the note containing the prayer to the nuns. You may wonder what the nuns do with all these eggs. These eggs are turned into cookies and other treats. They are then sold in a shop inside the convent to raise funds for their monastery.

Offering eggs has been an old tradition and it has been a mystery where this practice came from. In reality, eggs are not the only goods offered to the Carmelite sister, but fruits, bread and food can also be given as gifts. However, most people still feel that eggs are the most effective form of offering.