In the current liturgical context, the priest-celebrant faces many choices about how to celebrate Mass—and he and those around him may have very different thoughts on the best way of doing so.

Recent magisterial attentiveness to the ars celebrandi, or "art of celebrating," has offered a suggestive analogy between the liturgy and fine art. Attuned to the inherent beauty of divine worship, this analogy holds promise as a framework for discerning how the Mass is to be participated in and celebrated.

In The Beauty of the Liturgy, Donald T. Anstoetter draws on the aesthetic insights of twentieth-century Thomistic philosopher Jacques Maritain to elaborate an approach to thinking about liturgical action and celebration artistically, aesthetically, and theologically. As Anstoetter shows, the interrelationships of artist, art, and audience share deep parallels with those of celebrant, liturgy, and assembly, including a common aim of enabling active participation in the poetic contemplation of the beautiful.

Anstoetter ultimately advances a theology of ars celebrandi that locates the source and measure of liturgical artistry in Christ the priest. It is Christ's love for the Father and for his flock that provides the integrity, proportion, and clarity of the liturgy's beauty. And it is by sharing in Christ's own ars celebrandi that the priest-celebrant can foster the glorification of God and the sanctification of the faithful amidst a landscape of shifting priorities and preferences.