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Glossary

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There are currently 3 names in this directory beginning with the letter G.
General Congregation
Jesuit leaders from around the world meet from time to time for what are called General Congregations, often to elect a new Superior General and address important issues facing the order, the Church, and the world. There have been only 36 general congregations throughout the history of the Jesuits, and they are the highest governing authority of the Society of Jesus. The most recent, General Congregation 36, occurred in 2016.

God
Various titles or names are given to the Mystery underlying all that exists–e.g., the Divine, Supreme Being, the Absolute, the Transcendent, the All Holy-but all of these are only “pointers” to a Reality beyond human naming and beyond our limited human comprehension. Still, some conceptions are taken to be less inadequate than others within a given tradition founded in revelation. Thus Jews reverence Yahweh (a name so holy it is not spoken, but rather an alternative name is used), and Muslims worship Allah (the [only] God).
Christians conceive of the one God as “Trinity,” as having three “ways of being”–(1) Creator and covenant partner (from Hebrew tradition) or “Father” (the “Abba” of Jesus’ experience), (2) “Son” incarnate (become human) in Jesus, and (3) present everywhere in the world through the “Spirit.” Ignatius of Loyola* had a strong Trinitarian sense of God, but he was especially fond of the expression “the Divine Majesty” stressing the greatness or “godness” of God; and the 20th century-Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner could talk of “the incomprehensible Mystery of self-giving Love.”
The reluctance of some of our contemporaries to use the word God may be seen as a potential corrective to the tendency of some believers to speak of God all too easily, as if they fully understood God and Gods ways.

Gospel (literally “good news”)
The good news or glad tidings about Jesus.*
Plural. The first four works of the Christian scriptures (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) that tell the story of Jesus*–each with its own particular theological emphasis –and thus invite a response of faith and hope in him.

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