Bread of the world, in mercy broken,
Wine of the soul, in mercy shed,
By whom the words of life were spoken,
And in whose death our sins are dead.
Look on the heart by sorrow broken,
Look on the tears by sinners shed,
And be Thy feast to us the token
That by Thy grace our souls are fed.
Public domain hymn text (1827). Words by Reginald Heber.
The Story Behind the Hymn
Reginald Heber, already discussed elsewhere in this collection as author of 'Holy, Holy, Holy' (hymn 15) and the account of his own sudden death in India only a few years into his demanding missionary bishopric, wrote this hymn's text specifically for use at Communion, part of the same broader body of hymns produced during his years as a parish rector in England before his later appointment as Bishop of Calcutta.
The hymn deliberately draws a close, parallel structure between the physical elements of Communion — bread and wine — and their specific theological meaning, describing the bread as 'broken' in mercy and the wine as 'shed' in mercy, language directly echoing the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper, in which Jesus describes His own body as given and His blood as poured out on behalf of His disciples.
The hymn's second verse turns from the physical elements themselves to the inward state of the person receiving them, describing 'the heart by sorrow broken' and 'the tears by sinners shed,' drawing a deliberate parallel between the outward breaking of the bread and the inward brokenness of genuine repentance, suggesting that Communion holds its full meaning only when the outward ritual act is matched by genuine inward humility.
William H. Monk, already discussed elsewhere in this collection as composer of the tune for 'Abide with Me' (hymn 25), composed the tune commonly associated with this hymn as well, and the completed work has remained a standard Communion hymn across a wide range of English-speaking denominations, its compact two-verse structure making it particularly well suited for singing during the relatively brief period of Communion distribution itself, when a shorter hymn allows the service's central ritual action to remain the primary focus of the congregation's attention.
