Trade justice is about recognizing the right that farmers have to feed their families and send their children to school. It is about allowing local industries to develop and provide essential services like water and healthcare, the right to fair wages and dignified work, making it possible for poor countries to work their way out of poverty, and have a say about their own future. Trade justice calls for basic changes to the rules that govern international trade, and requires that rich country governments and institutions like the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank stop forcing liberalization and free trade on poor countries.

Read: 1 Cor. 11:17-22, 27-33. Reflection: St. Paul is disturbed by the actions of the Corinthian Christians, who are eating the Lord's supper in an unworthy manner. Paul is specific: Some are "humiliating those who have nothing." Some go ahead, not discerning that the body of Christ is formed by the whole assembled community. They have not learned to wait for one another. In a world in which some rarely get beyond being able to look at what others enjoy, Paul instructs us to examine ourselves - are we part of the powerful who make all the rules and have enormous wealth while others have no crust of bread? Free trade is not free for those who are unable to compete, the humiliated, the left behind. How shall we judge ourselves?

For more information about trade injustice, hunger and stories about people who are affected, visit: www.tradeweek.org. Then write our legislators, urging them to stand up for fair trade.

Prayer of Confession:

Patient God, waiting for the table to have a place for all, waiting for the sharing so everyone can eat, waiting for us to learn to wait, forgive us when we go ahead and leave others behind. Turn us around when we take more than we need, confining many others with less than they need. Transform our minds when we choose willful ignorance about the impact of what we buy, bargain or trade. Give us hands and hearts to challenge the rules so that none of your children are ruled out, and no part of your body goes hungry, through Jesus Christ. Amen.