Word on Fire has been chosen along with Ascension, another Catholic media company, to publish the second edition of the Liturgy of the Hours.
The decision by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) means that the current edition, which was translated and designed in the 1970s, is getting its first full update in more than 50 years, reports the Catholic News Agency (CNA).
“This is more than a publishing project – it is a spiritual mission,” Word on Fire founder Bishop Robert Barron, of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said in a press release. “We want to help thousands of priests, religious and laypeople pray more deeply and more beautifully each day.”
He added that the new version will be “a profound service to the Church and to the world”.
Brandon Vogt, senior publishing director at Word on Fire, said the Catholic media company has “spent the past three years introducing tens of thousands of Catholics to this rhythm of daily prayer through our monthly booklets”, before describing the forthcoming four-volume series as the next step "that will draw countless more into the Church’s ancient prayer, day by day, hour by hour".
The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, is a set of daily prayers that priests and religious are obliged to pray but which many lay Catholics also partake in. The prayers are set according to the Church calendar and are composed of psalms, hymns and readings from Scripture.
CNA explains that in November of 2012, the US bishops voted to revise the Liturgy of the Hours translation, based on the Roman Missal (Third Edition) and on the 2001 Vatican document Liturgiam Authenticam.
The new version has been developed over the past decade by the USCCB in collaboration with the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL).
The approval process was completed in November 2024 and earlier this year, on 29 May, the USCCB sent the completed manuscript to the Holy See for confirmation.
Ascension, best known for its popular podcast “The Bible in a Year with Mike Schmitz", has stated that publishing the Liturgy of the Hours “furthers its mission in creating resources to help Catholics deepen their prayer life, joining the universal Church in encountering the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith".
In a recent video explaining the Liturgy of the Hours, Fr Schmitz said: “When you pray the Liturgy of the Hours, you are uniting your prayer to the entire Church.
"It gives us the opportunity to create holy time … by stopping at various moments throughout the day and calling upon the Lord, renewing our mind with his word.”
A release date for the collection of daily prayers will be shared after final approval had been granted by the Vatican.
The Liturgy of the Hours is, Vogt says, “the Church’s highest prayer outside the Mass and sacraments."
“Our aim is simple," he adds: "to create the most beautiful, most prayerful, most accessible edition of the Liturgy of the Hours ever produced.”
Photo: Editions of Liturgy of the Hours (screenshot from liturgyofthehours.com)