By Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing - This belief in the “real presence” of Christ in the Eucharist, not merely “spiritually,” but really – as real as when your friend is in the same room with you – has animated the Christian Church from the very beginning – so much so that early pagans accused Christians of cannibalism... Indeed, the faith of the Church is that Christ is even more intimately present to us than a friend in the same room, since He is not only “out there” but “inside” us, with the power to transform us in ways that the presence of a friend, although good, never can.