Along the busy street of Lacson, Mandalagan you won’t probably expect a quiet Monastery just a few walks away from Robinson’s Mall. The abbey is known as the “Carmel of God’s Love” and true of its name, 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 away from the public. Every day, the nuns receive prayer requests from the people written on a piece of paper accompanied by a donation in kind or in the form of goods. A popular token of appreciation given to the Carmelite sisters is in the form of eggs accompanied by a special request for a good weather. Schools in Bacolod City would usually offer dozens of eggs to the Carmelite sisters in exchange of good weather for an upcoming trip or school event. The University of St. La Salle Bacolod would offer dozens of eggs to the Carmelite sisters before their graduating students have their Cebu-Bohol trip usually held around the end of the school year. Many people believe in the prayer of the sisters and many have attested to the miraculous intercessions of the sister. This offering of eggs for good weather does not only happen 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 gave 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 handed directly to the Carmelite Sisters since they cannot go out of the convent and see people. People who want to offer eggs to the monastery need to give the donations to a person in charge and then that person will give the eggs and the note containing the prayer to the nuns. You might be wondering what the nuns do to all of these eggs. These eggs are actually made into cookies and other delicacies. These are then sold in a store 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. Actually, eggs are not the only goods being offered to the Carmelite sister but one can also give fruits, bread and groceries. However, most people still feel that eggs are the most effective form of offering.