Matthew Kudija

Home About Notes Reading Notes

Ascension vs Word on Fire—Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition

On October 7, 2025, Ascension and Word on Fire announced they were selected by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) as publishers of the new Second Edition of the Liturgy of the Hours. The introduction of this Second Edition revised translation and the selection of these two new publishers are both signs of the renewal of the Divine Office.

My first reaction when I heard that Ascension and Word on Fire were both selected to publish the second edition of the Liturgy of the Hours was joy that we would assuredly be given beautiful breviaries. My breviary is the one book I use multiple times every day. I have many well-used and well-loved Bibles that rotate use, but my breviary—which ever volume we are on—is nearly always with me. I can't help but agree with Bishop Barron in his announcement video that this second edition is but one fruit of the wider renewal of the Divine Office—and the Bible from which it draws its content—in the life of the Church.

Given the new choice afforded by the selection of two publishers, this page will summarize and compare the breviaries offered by both.

---

Contents

• The Liturgy of the Hours
• The Second Edition
• Ascension
• Word on Fire
• Comparison & Recommendation
• An Invitation

The Liturgy of the Hours

The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, is an official liturgy of the Church. After the Mass, it is the highest form of prayer of the Church. "The public and communal prayer of the people of God is rightly considered among the first duties of the Church".¹ As Fr. Mike Schmitz recently pointed out,² a priest doesn't make a vow to pray the Mass every day, but he does made a vow to pray the Divine Office every day. Vatican II encouraged the laity to pray the Divine Office.³

The Second Edition

The First Edition of the Liturgy of the Hours has been published in the United States since 1975-1976 by the Catholic Book Publishing Corp.

The 2025 publication of the Second Edition of the Liturgy of the Hours, then, is the first updated translation in English approved by the USCCB in fifty years. The USCCB gives this information on their page dedicated to the second edition:

In November 2012, the U.S. Bishops voted to revise the translation of the Liturgy of the Hours in light of the Roman Missal, Third Edition and the 2001 Vatican document Liturgiam authenticam. The approval process was completed in November 2024, and on May 29, 2025, the USCCB transmitted the completed manuscript of the Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition to the Holy See for confirmation. (USCCB)

The USCCB is also in the process of issuing an updated translation of the New American Bible Revised Edition. When these updates are complete, we can look forward to a more accurate and unified English translation across the Church's liturgies in the Roman Missal, Lectionary for Mass, and Divine Office.

Ascension

Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition - Ascension

Ascension announced a full line-up of premium, standard, and large-print editions, and their website includes a number of details and photos. Overall, the standard and large-print editions appear to be analogous to the existing editions from CBPCorp., with improved design by 2K/DENMARK and better materials. The premium edition with a goatskin leather cover will be a substantial improvement over existing options.

The premium edition has some noticeable yapp in the above photo. These look to be beautiful and well-crafted breviaries, but they ought not to be stored vertically like this despite coming with a handsome box.

The standard edition also appears to come with a display box, which should be suitable for storing these with negligible yapp. From a practical standpoint, though, the storage box should only have three bays, as one of the volumes will always be out and about in service. I am curious to see what material the cover is on the standard edition and how rigid it is.

This is the only photo I have seen of the interior layout of the Ascension edition, and it does not give much of an indication of what to expect. However, I am optimistic that it will be beautiful and easy to navigate having been designed by 2K/DENMARK. The Great Adventure Bible was greatly improved from its internally-designed first edition to its 2K/DENMARK-designed second edition. Even so, it did retain some unnecessary gimmicks that are unbecoming of a Bible or breviary (such as the colored arrows at the top of every page), and I hope Ascension refrains from any gimmicks and gives us a timeless and distraction-free breviary suitable for liturgical prayer. The product page indicates it will include artwork that is "timeless in character and deeply rooted in Catholic tradition, enriching prayer without distraction": anything will be an improvement over the artwork in the first edition, and this tone is perceptive of deficiencies in the first edition and Great Adventure Bible. I'm also curious to see what the "subtle navigational tabs" are like and if they are as useful as the tabs in the Great Adventure Bible.

The two photos above seem to show different colored ribbons: first brightly colored ribbons similar to the first edition, and second more muted colors that are more becoming of a prayer book. I hope the final product includes these ribbons with muted colors.

The size of the Ascension second edition looks to be comparable to the first edition, which is the correct size for holding in the hand to pray: not too large in height and width, and thick if needs to be.

This last photo shows the standard edition (top) as compared to the premium edition (bottom). You can clearly see from this photo the semi-yapp on the premium edition, which is a welcome improvement but also illustrates why the premium edition should be stored horizontally like this rather than vertically in a display box.

One issue I have with the initial photos of the Ascension second edition is how busy the spine is. CBPCo.'s initial English American Interim Breviary: Prayer of Christians of 1971 had "CATHOLIC BOOK PUBLISHING COMPANY" on the spine. Thankfully, this was removed in the production first edition of 1975 and onward, giving a simple and dignified breviary. The Ascension edition, by contrast, looks cluttered and chintzy with the Ascension logo plastered on the spine. Even with two publishers now, everyone knows this is the Ascension breviary—the Ascension logo on the spine adds nothing, but it does detract from an otherwise dignified presentation.

Word on Fire

Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition - Word on Fire

The Word on Fire announcement included a short video from Bishop Barron, but otherwise did not give many details. From the photos that were released, though, we are sure to get a beautiful second edition from Word on Fire.

The exterior is simple and dignified. The leather looks similar—if not identical—to that used on the Word on Fire Bible, with a deep, beautiful grain. Word on Fire's restraint on the spine creates an august appearance: we see only the title, an IHS monogram, and the volume number.

I am curious from this photo if the thickness is representative of the production volumes. I am surprised by how thin these look, which implies a larger (and less-desirable) layout. However, I suspect this may just be a sample given that the thickness is uniform, when we expect natural variation in thickness between volumes. I am curious to see the final dimensions and how they compare to the first edition.

The selection of muted colors for the ribbons adds to the dignified presentation of the Word on Fire second edition.

The layout appears to be similar to that used in the Liturgy of the Hours booklets. The red accents are replaced with gold, some prayers are abbreviated (i.e. "Our Father" rather than the whole prayer), and historical names for the offices are used (i.e. "Vespers I" rather than "Evening Prayer"). One small question presents itself with the line "Psalms and canticles from Sunday, Week I, 000": I suspect the "000" is a placeholder because the whole volume is not yet typeset, but it would be a usability improvement if Sunday Week I psalms were placed somewhere convenient due to their frequent use on feasts.

Above is the CBPCorp. first edition on the left, and the Word on Fire Liturgy of the Hours booklet on the right, standing in for the Word on Fire second edition because of their similarity until I have one to compare in person. The first edition leaves much less whitespace than the Word on Fire edition with marginal titles, meaning it can have a much larger and bolder font. This appears to be one downside for the legibility vs. portability tradeoff of the Word on Fire layout, which is of utmost importance in a breviary. We will need to see the final product to fully evaluate it, and to compare it against the Ascension edition.

Bishop Barron shared a heartfelt reflection on the Liturgy of the Hours in the announcement video from Word on Fire, including citing his breviary as one of his most treasured possessions. He closed with his aspirations for the project: "We hope to draw countless more into the Church's ancient prayer...I truly believe this project will spark a renewal of the Church's daily prayer, restoring the Diving Office to the heart of Catholic life."

Comparison & Recommendation

The below table summarizes the key features of the current first edition as compared with the two forthcoming second editions. A number of important details for selecting which second edition to choose, including cost, are yet to be announced. I will update this with further details as they are announced and include a recommendation for choosing between them.

Ascension and Word on Fire: please reach out if you would like to provide more details or a review copy.

	CBPCorp. (Current)	Ascension	Word on Fire
Editions	Bonded Leather ($209) Imitation Leather ($174)	Premium (\$??) Standard (\$??) Large Print (\$??)	Premium Goatskin ($??)
Printed In	Korea	China	Italy
Binding	Smyth-sewn Paste-off binding	Smyth-sewn Edge-lined binding (Premium) Paste-off binding (Standard)	Smyth-sewn Paste-off binding?
Typesetting	CBPCo	2K/DENMARK	WOF
Typeface	Goudy Old Style (10.5 pt)	?	Trinité No. 2 (size?)
Dimensions	4.75" x 7" x 1.25" (Vol. I) to 1.75" (Vol. II)	? x ? x ?	? x ? x ?

An Invitation

I would like to close with an invitation to pray the Liturgy of the Hours with the Church. If you already pray one or two hours, think about adding one more. If you have never prayed the Liturgy of the Hours before, here is how to start:

• Go to Sing the Hours right now and listen as Paul Rose guides you to pray whatever office is appropriate: Lauds (Morning Prayer) if it is before noon, Vespers (Evening Prayer) if it is after noon, or Compline if you are going to bed soon. Stop what you are doing and pray.
• If you want more now, spend something like $9 per month to get the monthly Liturgy of the Hours booklets from Word on Fire, or $22 to get Shorter Christian Prayer which has everything you need to pray the primary hours of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Compline.
• Get the Ascension or Word on Fire second edition when available. I will add more details here to compare the two as they become available.

---

Created: 2025-10-22-Wed
Updated: 2025-10-25-Sat