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Fashioning the Samurai Sword
Fashioning the Samurai Sword
The Japanese samurai sword throughout history and up to this day has been known as an excellent weapon of great craftsmanship. As such it has an enduring reputation for its strength, usefulness and elegance. In its day and place it was considered one of the most superior weapons of its kind. It was superior in its usefulness because of the long standing and solid tradition for the quality craftsmanship used to create the weapon.
The transformation of the Christian soul on its journey with God in many ways can be compared to the development of a samurai sword in the hands of a master craftsman. The deliberate process used to create the sword can serve as an analogy on how the transformation of the soul occurs. The analogy draws from the initial formation and painstaking deliberate craftsmanship used to manufacture the sword. This can be compared to the initial transformation of the soul in the hands of God.
On both sides of the analogy there can be seen in the beginning the raw material like the raw soul of a person. Then there is the meticulous transformation through special craftsmanship where the soul like the raw metal is purified through a trial of fire and shaped by the hammer of mercy, love and virtue. With the end in mind the soul is transformed into a unique, strong, useful, person just as the metal is produced into an elegant craft.
The Beginning
The Samurai sword in the beginning, starts out very crude. Using Raw unconditioned material, the master craftsman has an intended outcome.
In the beginning the metal is mined out of the rock. The rock is pummeled until it yields the raw and impure metal. This action can be likened to actions God may use when beginning the work on our souls. God takes the very and basic raw elements of our being and starts to pummel away the immediate circumstances which are not needed for the transformation of our being. This is God removing any unassuming aspects and distractions from our lives, and begins a basic assembly of what He will work with.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
to the quarry from which you were taken; Isaiah 51:1b
The next process for the Samurai Sword involves the nuggets of metal being selected by the Master craftsman. Each shiny crude nugget is examined closely for its potential as part of the masterpiece which shall be forged into something useful. That which is useless is thrown out. That which can handle the heat in the forging process remains.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, John 15:16a
When God looks at us, He considers what He can use. This is often an unrefined aspect of our self and may even be a hidden trait. Our actions should be in conjunction with the master craftsman of our soul. So, we want to prevail upon a life of prayer, the sacraments which give sanctifying grace, studying our faith, reading the Bible, alms giving, service to God and a life of devotions. Our willingness to live a life of obedience to what Jesus told the apostles, to live a life of charity and humble follow His will all become the nuggets God chooses for our transformation.
There are times when we may be tempted to bring something to the process or even think we can guide the process of God’s transformation of our life in faith. Does the metal tell the craftsman how to forge the metal or how to fashion the sword? No! This is really an act of pride and is useless to our transformation by God’s grace. We need to let God pick through those things we are made up from and let Him choose what He wants to use. After all He is the Master!
The Forging
The Forging
With the nuggets all selected, the master craftsman places them into the smelting pot. The metal is fired at a high temperature until it no longer resembles the former shape. The nuggets are no longer recognizable because they have been melded into one glowing molten shapeless mass of unpurified metal.
In a much similar way, God’s work on the soul melds what He has taken into a shape which no longer resembles the former self. This is done in part to remove our pride. The original nuggets which represent personal attributes are no longer identifiable. Often, we pridefully consider what we deem as personal attributes are those things which define who we really are. It is not so. Many attributes we cling to are like the unpurified nuggets of raw metal. In our pride we like to line them as if they are some arrangement of trophies to declare our distinction from everyone else. How foolish we are.
God works quietly in this initial process of transformation of the soul. The soul may be wondering what is occurring, but God continues His work. Go can take our unique attributes, transform them and meld them into a soul which serves His purpose. As an example, he can take a prideful stubbornness and transform it into tenacity and zeal for serving God.
The master craftsman pours the molten mass of metal into a rough elongated shape. But this is not a mold of the sword itself. It is a shape so that the Master craftsman has a means from which to work. It is his design that the metal must yield to; not the other way around. The original shiny unformed nuggets are now blended into a single shape, but when left to cool, is a dull looking gray mass.
Likewise, our souls encounter with God experiences something similar. At first, we are excited by the initial ‘Glow’ and shape of our beginning transformation. Then we are allowed to cool. We see ourselves as gray and dull. There is nothing to get excited about. Perplexed or in doubt, we at times my cry to God; “what are you doing to me!” Or “look what you’ve done!” We think that we were better off when we were shiny little nuggets, now we are plain and ordinary.
God reminds us, “It was I who dug you from the pit brought you into the light so that you may shine.” It is during times like these, along our souls’ journey where God does not want us to succumb to the temptation in to the conformity of the world, but to be transformed by His grace.
Do not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2
Fire and Hammer
Fire and Hammer
The Samurai sword process continues. Now the long metal shape is thrown into the fire again and gets beaten with large hammers. The metal is fired and hammered again and again repeatedly in order to get all the dross out of the metal as well as to strengthen the metal. The dross is the impure useless part of the metal which cannot be a part of the finished product.
Were the metal alive like our souls, it may cry out “why are you punishing me?” We cannot always understand all that God allows to occur in our journey and with the transformation process. However, faith teaches us that God does transform us with love and all that is not of God must be removed. This would be the impure things we hold on to and sometimes stubbornly give them up. God purifies using learning through grace and the experiences in our lives.
6 In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:6-7
Our souls are refined by God’s firing process, as well as God’s hammering on His anvil of grace, glorious mercy and majestic love. Through this transformative process we become stronger by God’s actions. We become sanctified by God’s action and not our own.
The metal for the sword is refined continually. Our soul is refined continually. The metal for the sword is returned to the high temperature and hammered again and again. God returns our soul to the refiner’s fire over and over.
He will sit refining and purifying silver,
and he will purify the Levites, Refining them like gold or silver, that they may bring offerings to the LORD in righteousness.
Malachi 3:3
The firing process repeats itself over and over. With each hammer strike from the master craftsman, embers of impurity fly off the metal. The metal as it becomes purer begins to strengthen. With each moment of God’s loving hand setting to purify us, we become stronger. Our faith in God becomes more resilient and relies more on God.
See, I refined you, but not like silver;
I tested you in the furnace of affliction. Isaiah 48:10
The master craftsman takes the hot metal and never lets it cool. He returns it to fire now and begins to fold the metal and hammer it in order to remove the last bit of impurities. The metal is returned to the fire and hammered more and more. The final stages for strengthening and purity are taking place.
God being the master craftsman of our soul reshapes us using the many folds of our experiences with him and yearning for his grace in the sacraments. Integrated in this are the experiences of God’s Holiness. Our soul yields to God’s ever-present love from the fire of His Holy Spirit and we become obedient to His Truth. It in this constant cycle where the transforming process removes all impurities and from this we are strengthened for the task.
22 Since you have purified yourselves by obedience to the truth for sincere mutual love, love one another intensely from a [pure] heart. 23 You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God,
1 Peter 1:22-23
Soon the metal is ready to be forged into its final shape. The master craftsman creates the shape which resembles the sword. Initially the metal looks very ordinary, dull, dark and unpolished. It is fired a few more times until the final shape is perfected.
When God transform our souls if we were to give into only our personal introspection we might be shocked at the “dull” look we have from a worldly perspective. Since we have walked with God this far and allowed him to transform us, we should not be surprised that he has aided us by clothing us in humility. Although the world may see us unappealing, it is God who sees us as the work of art He is creating. This is what really matters.
5 ……. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for: “God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble.” 6 So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. 7 Cast all your worries (anxieties) upon him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5-7)
With self-serving pride, we cannot be transformed by God. When we place our trust in God, it is by His will and grace that we fulfill what we were meant to be. We must place our trust in every word spoken by His Son Jesus and related to us as a ‘Pillar of Truth.’ This of course presumes we freely give in to God’s time table and process for our transformation and not our own.
The master craftsman for the sword, now coming close to completion, begins to place the finishing touches on the sword. The sword is polished to a remarkable brilliance. The edge of blade or tempered lines are called the Boshi and Hamon. These are a specially gilded pattern along the blade of the sword that is unique for each sword. No two swords are alike and are patterned differently.
The master craftsman continues by placing his mark on the blade. In addition, the handle and guard are impressively embellished with intricate designs and wrapped with a leather design. Finally, the sword is roped in a skillfully crafted scabbard. Its process complete; it is ready to be handled by the skilled master!
By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all
(Hebrews 10:10)
Each soul is transformed uniquely and is unique in the eyes of God. Now the soul transformed by God’s Holiness by yielding to the process of His divine love, now becomes the masterpiece God had intended. The soul’s brilliance is only suitable for reflecting the Light of Christ given to light our path. As such the soul continues to yield to God’s divine grace, but, not as a show piece or menacing weapon. The soul yields by being a living testimony to God’s greatness, His Holiness, mercy and love. Just as the samurai sword reflects the work of the master craftsman, likewise the soul must reflect the holiness and love of God.
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