Mexico is getting ready for a party. The nation's highways are splashed with the invitation to the biggest fiesta in 200 years. 'Route 2010' signs announce the countdown to the bicentennial celebration.

Yet violence, corruption and a full-scale narco war litter the nation. Bad press aggravates the bad things that are going on. The country will need to put on a brave face as it prepares for their big birthday.

Some young people would prefer not to party, but to pray. On the 28th of each month, a huge youth rally gathers in downtown Mexico City at the San Hipolito Church to celebrate a mass to Saint Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. They come from the drug-ravaged poorer neighbourhoods of the city. They carry candles or statues of the saint.

They pray for family members in jail, for jobs, for the lost causes of their lives.

A lot of them are riding the wave of a phenomenon that brings together young people from the drug culture. An American priest, Father Frederick Loos, challenges them in raw street language to give up their habit. They pray for people killed in the violence.

At the end of the mass, they burn an offering of glue. There are no illusions of a miraculous fix to the nation's ills. But among the crowd of kids high on crack, there are sincere seekers, fervent faces mirroring the uneasiness that many feel for Mexico.

The hope for Mexico may just be in its youth. As the anniversary approaches, Christian churches around the country are accelerating their prayer emphasis. At one such meeting, some children confessed a catalogue of national sins that seemed to go on forever. Young people have no illusions about the state of their nation.

Heather Hahn is a Canadian International Worker who has lived in Mexico for ten years. She has gathered a group of Mexican youth who share her dream of a better Mexico. Their faith community is giving practical expression to their concern.

They reach out regularly to the children of informal workers who have migrated to Mexico City to seek a living. Brave Heart is a group of youth volunteers who provide homework help for indigenous children forced to spend their lives on the street helping their parents eke out a wage.

Hahn grew into her understanding of how the gospel can speak into the life circumstances of these children as she sat on a street corner in Mexico City with a children's Bible in hand. She describes her experience as a 'great revelation.'

She adds, "They say that social injustice is a huge destructive monster, one that only dare be challenged through a community rooted in Christ. Often I would find myself staring at the monster, its eyes gleaming with the atrocities of evil, only to become more discouraged."

Christ lifted her eyes up to him and his justice through a community.

Originally, she'd go alone. Armed with a kids' Bible, she would sit on a street corner and talk about Jesus Christ to a crowd of kids working on the street. Soon, university friends heard about what she was doing and wanted to help. They hadn't had a revelation of Christ yet, but they had seen that scary monster roaming the streets.

So together they planned. They started acting out stories about Christ's power over temptation, sickness and heartache. They began to hear kids thank God, and her university friends would join in. These volunteer workers heard about Christ's baptism and decided it was time to make their own commitment.

They saw situations that hurt, and began to visit families and pray for them. They have seen God answer prayer. Missing children have been found, abuse of power has been silenced and desperation has been turned into hope.

Had God not brought a group of university students along, Hahn might still be sitting alone on a street corner. As youth are beginning to follow Christ, she is seeing an increasing measure of his power in convicting and convincing them of his love and forgiveness. As they work together, he has revealed himself to Hahn as the God of justice. He fights on their behalf and calls them in community to join in.

"With this greater revelation of Christ, we get gradual glimpses of the monster scurrying away down the street," Hahn concludes.

As Mexico charts its future beyond its birthday, it will take an army of ordinary Mexican young people like Brave  Heart, who believes that something better is possible?that Heart, who believes that something better is possible?that by doing the little things they will make a difference.

The monthly mass to the patron saint of lost causes may be an indicator of the state of despair that exists among young people. But the baby steps of Brave Heart suggest there are some Mexican young people who have not given up on their country.

Richard Reichert serves with the Caribbean Ministry Team.
Heather Hahn is a Canadian Alliance Inernational Worker in Mexico City.