Pope Benedict’s ground-breaking Short Message Service (text) message sent to pilgrims during this past World Youth Day in Australia was but one of a series of strategic moves designed to appeal to today’s gadget-addicted Catholics.

A recent homily given during the bi-monthly children’s liturgy at my parish got me wondering about how communication technology would factor into Jesus’ ministry if He were to return today.

Our parish priest cleverly used a popular music player as a metaphor to capture the attention of his young audience. He indicated to the children that, like an iPod that needs recharging every 24 hours or so, our “spiritual batteries” also need regular attention.

So I got to thinking about today’s hi-tech communication devices and the recent explosion in social networking web sites and wondered how Jesus might have leveraged all this wondrous technology were He walking among us.

Would our Lord use a computer to create religious podcasts to reach the masses? Would he wear an iPhone or BlackBerry on His belt to connect with 21st-century disciples? Would He create web-based social-networking sites on the likes of Facebook, MySpace or Twitter to connect with believers and non-believers across the globe? Or would God’s son maintain His own daily blog, wiki or online video channel to spread the good news and collaborate with the world’s techno-savvy in order to save the souls of the techno-needy?

I would suspect that, were He among us in the flesh today, Jesus would not hesitate to harness the vast potential of the read-and-write capabilities of the Internet and SMS technology to seek out and interact with the comfortable. Jesus as iGod would likely waste little time in mobilizing and evangelizing the more affluent “techno-haves” of the world to encourage them to help comfort the afflicted, to feed the bodies, minds and spirits of the poor, hungry, alienated, lonely and broken among us.

The modern-day miracles of digital, satellite and cellular technology can deliver on-demand live television, webcasts and text and audio messages virtually anywhere in the world in the twinkling of an eye.

Like the previous papal media superstar John Paul II, it would not be much of a stretch to expect that Jesus would adapt quickly to new technologies and leverage them to avidly oppose the triple threat of war, hunger and disease, while actively promoting and preserving the dignity of life, about which the late pope so eloquently spoke and wrote.

It is difficult to imagine that a plugged-in Jesus would use today’s technology to cast anything less than a rainbow of promise across the digital universe.

Now if only the rest of us could consistently harness the power of technology to promote peace and justice in our own families, communities and in the world beyond our borders. We would then be bearers of light and hope for those unfortunate souls whose lives, in need of healing, contain too much darkness.

(Redfearn is a freelance writer in Waterloo, Ont.)