text: Actually, during the Eucharistic Prayer, we are all (People of God in the assembly, including the priest, who is said to be acting in Persona Christi at this moment in time) facing the bread and the wine on the altar (symbol of God and of the sacrifice of Calvary) as the Holy Spirit is called down upon the elements in the epiclesis. We are all facing the Divine who is manifest under the species of bread and wine. The focal point is surely the Eucharist, the Real Presence of Jesus, and not nautical directions, not the priest, etc, etc. And, quite pragmatically, the priest is not standing in our way, obscuring this point of focus from our line of sight!