St. Bartholomew is mentioned in all of the lists of the twelve apostles. This makes him a big deal since we are an apostolic church, founded on the preaching of the apostles. The wall of the city had twelve courses of stones as its foundation, on which were inscribed the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. However, the Gospel for today does not talk about Bartholomew but of Nathaniel. What’s going on? When the twelve apostles are listed Bartholomew is always mentioned with Philip. In John’s Gospel Philip brings Nathaniel to Jesus. Since Bartholomew is a last name (maybe like saying “hey, Smittie; hey, Murph”) Nathaniel could be the first name of the one connected with Philip in thei lists of the twelve. That serves to remind us that in our own apostolic vocation — the message of Jesus only gets out there if you and I bring it — does not depend on our unique personality. Like Bartholomew/Nathaniel we are absolutely essential but not that important.
