A monastic mirror

. I suppose part of an old mirror at the washstand is better than none at all when a nun has to tidy up and hasten to the communal prayer after a morning's work in the garden. . We saw the vegetable garden and the quiet sitting garden of the Congregation of Rosary Sisters here and I posted about their round church here. The church, convent, school, and guest hostel are on central Jerusalem's busy Agron Street, hidden within a surrounding wall.
This photo is joining many others at James' Weekend Reflections. 

UPDATE Dec. 2022:  A nice article about the Rosary Sisters: 
https://www.lpj.org/posts/portraits-of-sisters-in-the-holy-land-final-chapter-the-rosary-sisters.html

An enclosed garden in the middle of new Jerusalem

.
Come, step through the (almost always locked) little door in the big gate, enter a hidden garden.

The monastery wall separates you from busy Agron Street, the big hotels, and modern Jerusalem.

The church was built from the 1880s until 1927.

The convent, school, guest hostel, and church belong to the Catholic Arab women's order called the Congregation of the Rosary Sisters.

.

More about them in my earlier post.

Sit in the shade of an old olive tree

and enjoy the lovingly-tended gardens.

A scarecrow in a keffiyeh guards the sisters' vegetable garden!

.

Hope you enjoyed today's visit in the secret garden for That's My World Tuesday.

.

A heavenly sky

.
I was outside the entire day on guided walks in Jerusalem and the Judean Hills.
Can't believe I came home without a sky photo for SkyWatch Friday.

Instead you can enjoy the heavenly dome of a church!

A round church!

Our guide was able to arrange a visit inside.
 Most people have never seen what lies beyond the high stone wall and locked gate. We were lucky today.

The church was begun in the 1880s and completed in 1927.

The convent, school, and hostel belongs to the Catholic Arab women's order called the Congregation of the Rosary Sisters. It is the only native congregation of the Holy Land.

.

The order's cofounder, Mother Marie-Alphonsine, born in the Old City in 1843, was beatified just a few months ago.

The sisters went to Arab countries in order to educate girls and raise the "dignity and nobility" of women.
By now they have one million graduates.
.

The place is a beautiful island of tranquility in the middle of busy west Jerusalem's Agron Street.

I don't blame the sisters for not opening their gates very often.

.
UPDATE Oct. 8, 2014:   See a short video about the Rosary Sisters in the Holy Land.
.
UPDATE Dec. 22, 2022:  An article from the Latin Patriarchate Jerusalem about these sisters: 
https://www.lpj.org/posts/portraits-of-sisters-in-the-holy-land-final-chapter-the-rosary-sisters.html
.