How could we possibly know that Jesus blood type is AB positive?
However true it may be that we cannot know Jesus blood type for absolute certainty, it seems that God has been pleased to give us a very large body of evidence which overwhelmingly shows Jesus blood type as being AB positive—evidences such as the Shroud of Turin, the Sudarium of Oveido, along with quite a few important Eucharistic miracles, both historical and also very recent, whose blood test results have all consistently confirmed the AB positive thesis.
Presented below are just a few of the many cases which having been scientifically tested by laboratories in different areas of the world, all of which reveal the AB positive blood type:
- The Corporal of Bolsena (13th century, blood tested in 1995)
-The Shroud of Turin
-The Sudarium of Oviedo
- The Eucharistic Miracle at Lanciano (8th century)
and for those more interested in recent phenomenon we have 4 in just the last 25 years whose blood results were all AB positive:
- The Eucharistic miracle at the Marian Shrine of Finca Betania in Cúa, Venezuelia (1991)
- The (desecrated) Eucharistic host at Buenos Aires, Argentina (1996) – An interesting side note about this miracle is that the Archbishop who commissioned the investigation was Archbishop Begolglio--now Pope Francis!
-The Eucharistic miracle at the Parish of Saint Martin of Tours in Tixtla, Mexico, (2006)
-The Eucharistic miracle at the Parish of St. Jacek, diocese of Legnica, Poland (2013)
As of today the full list of blood test results in this area numbers well over a dozen.
Rarity of the AB blood type among the human population
Together the AB blood type (both positive and negative) is one of the rarest of the human blood types, with only approximately 3.4 percent of the world population having AB+, and only 0.6 percent of the population with AB-.
AB blood type and its universal receptivity
What makes the AB blood type even more special is that people who have AB blood can receive blood from anyone, and are therefore known as “universal recipients”, unlike all other blood types who can only receive from specific blood types.
So what to make of the universal receptivity of Jesus blood type?
So this begs the question--why would Jesus’ blood be universally receptive by all the blood types of humanity? What could this signify? Well, this is where Science and Theology seem to merge.
In the Eucharist, we often speak of “receiving” Jesus in Holy Communion. When we consume the Eucharist, Jesus literally unites and becomes one with us, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
Eucharistic "Koinonia"
However, since the time of the apostles the Church has always taught that Eucharistic communion is not one sided as each of us simply receiving Jesus individually --for when we receive Communion, it’s less about Jesus becoming part of us, than it is of we becoming ever more part of Him – and, by extension, ever more part of his body, the Church.
The ancient Greek word for this is “Koinonia” which essentially means that the Eucharist is the sacrament of communion with one another in the one body of Christ.
“Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? “ ( 1 Corinthians 10:16)
And so it is that St. Paul tells us in 1 Cor 10:16 that we simply don’t receive Jesus in the Eucharist, but that we join Him in Communion in the blood of Christ—“Nonne communicatio sanguinis?” as it is written in the Latin Vulgate; κοινωνία or Koinonia in Greek.
Likewise St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “…the Eucharist is the sacrament of the unity of the Church, which results from the fact that many are one in Christ”, or as the Catechism states “...by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body.”(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1331).
With this in mind we can now better perceive one of the reasons why Jesus likely chose to possess blood type AB: for being that it is the universally receptive blood type, our blood, regardless of our own blood type, can be received by Him, so that no sinner is excluded from being taken up into his divine life! And so it is that by reflecting upon the the possibility of Jesus and the AB blood type we have a beautifully symbolic representation that points to the mystery of Holy Communion and union with and in His most precious Blood!
AB+ is also the universal plasma donor blood type
But this is not all---for not only is AB blood the universally receptive blood type, but AB+ blood is also known for being the universal plasma donor blood type, meaning that AB+ plasma can be transfused into any person, regardless of their blood type.
So, what would a blood plasma transplant provide, and why would a patient need one? Plasma attacks molecules called antibodies to help fight infections and it carries the clotting factors that stave off deadly hemorrhaging. In other words, plasma fights infections and it also helps to stop bleeding.
With this last bit of truth in mind, what spiritual allegories and symbolic conclusions can we derive from contemplating this? Well, in this final matter I will leave it to the reader to reflect and make one’s own spiritual speculations and conclusions, and I will conclude this article in the joy of knowing that Jesus precious Blood is an inexhaustible font of salvation for humanity, and through receiving His precious Body and Blood in Communion we unite with His divine life.