The Lord be with you, after which, “Let us pray.”

Love Letters to the Latin Mass 4: The Priest Leads Us to the Lord . . .

Looking at the priest has no importance. What matters is looking together at the Lord. It is not now a question of dialogue, but of common worship, of setting off towards the One who is to come. What corresponds with the reality of what is happening is not the closed circle, but the common movement forward expressed in a common direction for prayer. (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger [Pope Benedict
XVI], The Spirit of the Liturgy, 81)

During Mass, we very rarely see our priest’s face. . . . we see his back, but that is how it should be when you are being led. The only time we see his face are . . . when he turns back to beckon us to join him in prayer.

V: Dominus vobiscum. [The lord be with you.]

R: Et cum spiritu tuo. [And with your spirit.]

V: Oremus.[Let
us pray]

”

The Mass is not intended merely to entertain or be a meal

Some have claimed that having the priest face the people better represents the communal meal shared by the apostles at the Last Supper. Others have stated that the priest can communicate better when facing the congregation. Yet this is not the underlying purpose of the Mass.