On Sunday, our church held a multicultural festival. This uplifting event reminded me of the rich multicultural mosaic we enjoy in Canada.

Welcome to the 178^th edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a quote of the week. Along with celebrating our multicultural mosaic, this week’s edition looks at methylated multivitamins, the “Clean 15” fruits and vegetables, and fossil fuel consumption in 2026.  

On my mind this week: Celebrating our multicultural mosaic

On Sunday afternoon, our church held a multicultural festival—a celebration of the different cultures that are part of our parish community. Countries represented included India, the Philippines, Columbia, Brazil, Portugal, Guatemala, Nigeria, and many more that I can’t name.

For the Mass, I chose music that supported the theme of unity. A Nigerian group and our Filipino choir joined us for a couple of songs.

After Mass, we enjoyed food, music, and performances from the various cultures. Our pastor, who has a beautiful voice, treated us to a rendition of What a Wonderful World.

We are better together

The multicultural festival served as a reminder that we are all one family. It was an uplifting and inspiring celebration of the diversity that makes us all better.

Canada is often referred to as a mosaic—a country made up of diverse ethnic, linguistic, and cultural groups. What makes a mosaic different from a melting pot—the term often used to describe the United States—is that each group in the mosaic is encouraged to maintain their unique identities while coexisting. 

I truly believe we are richer as a society when we embrace and learn from traditions from other cultures and faiths. Sadly, there are many among us who insist on holding tight to the idea of a white, male, “christian” society as somehow superior. (I deliberately used a lower case c because these people do not follow Christ’s teachings of love and justice for all.)

We should never lose sight of one thing. Unless we belong to the Indigenous peoples that originally inhabited our land, we are all foreigners.  

I pray that we, as a society, can one day live in peace and harmony with all people.

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Quote of the week

My dream would be a multicultural society, one that is diverse and where every man, woman and child are treated equally. I dream of a world where all people of all races work together in harmony.

Nelson Mandela

Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• Saturday was honey harvest day. We worked together to harvest over 700 pounds of honey from my brother-in-law’s bee hives.
• On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I attended the Retirement Coaches Association’s virtual conference. It was three days of excellent speakers and thought-provoking discussions. I always come away from this event energized. I’ll share highlights in upcoming blog posts on Second Life Vision. If you’re retired—or thinking about it—sign up to be notified of new blog posts related to living an intentional and purpose-filled life in retirement.
• It has been another week of glorious late summer weather. Our trees are surprisingly green for this late in the season.

Things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:

What are methylated multivitamins?

One of the sessions at the Retirement Coaches Association conference discussed health and wellness as we age. The speaker said we should all take a multi-vitamin every day and methylated vitamins are better than non-methylated vitamins. The word methylated was new to me, so I did some research.

Methylated vitamins contain specific forms of B vitamins—methylfolate or 5-MTHF instead of folic acid, and methylcobalamin instead of cyanocobalamin for vitamin B12. Some claim the methylated versions are easier for your body to absorb.

Methylated vitamins are more costly that regular multi-vitamins so the big question is, are they really necessary? It turns out that, for most people, these vitamins are not more effective than non-methylated versions.

(Source: HealthCentral and Health.com)

“Clean 15” fruits and vegetables

The Environmental Working Group has released its 2026 “Clean 15” list. The fruits and vegetables on the list have the lowest levels of pesticide contamination.

• Pineapple
• Sweet corn
• Avocado
• Papaya
• Onion
• Sweet peas (frozen)
• Asparagus
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Watermelon
• Mangos
• Bananas
• Carrots
• Mushrooms
• Kiwi

Don’t be alarmed if your favourites aren’t on the list, or if they show up on the EWG’s Dirty Dozen list. Washing your fruits and veggies with water before eating will remove most of the pesticide residue. The EWG does not recommend using soap to wash produce. If you want to get your produce cleaner, try a baking soda or vinegar bath.

(Source: SuperAge)

Fossil fuel emissions set to fall in2026

They say every cloud has a silver lining. It turns out high fuel prices caused by the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz will lead to lower demand for fossil fuels as people switch to cleaner energy sources. Demand is expected to fall by 0.5% in 2026 and remain flat through 2027.

(Source: CarbonBrief)

I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.