Why could we not drive out the spirit? He said to them, “This kind can only come out through prayer.” Today’s Gospel reading recounts an event in the life of Jesus and his disciples which the disciples would have loved to forget. Unable to get his sick child to Jesus, a father requests Jesus’ disciples to attend to, and heal his possessed child. However, it appears that the father might have approached the disciples too soon for they were unable to rid the boy of the spirit. The disciples’ inability to cure the boy drew a sharp rebuke from Jesus: “How long must I be with you, you faithless generation?” Jesus was amazed at the apparent lack of faith from those whom he had made his partners in ministry. The disciples had watched Jesus perform such miracles before and, as anyone would ordinarily expect, they too might have longed for that day when they would be able to do as Jesus was doing. However, it appears the day dawned on them sooner than expected. From the boy’s father, we learn that the disciples fired from all cylinders but all their efforts were nonetheless met with unsuccess. Jesus attributed their inability to rid the boy of the spirit to their lack of faith. It cannot be doubted that the disciples were believers. They did believe in Jesus, otherwise they would not have become his followers. However, their faith was “ungrounded.” “Your faith must be grounded in prayer,” Jesus told them, “It is not enough that you believe in me (as the Son of God etc.). Your faith must also put you in communion with God, the origin of all power.” In addition, the disciples also had to believe in themselves, that is, in their ability to work signs in God’s name. It might be that their motive for wanting to help came from an attempt to gauge themselves, to see if God would perform signs through them (as God did through Jesus). They did believe, but their belief lacked trust (trusting faith). They needed to trust in God, that just as God chose Jesus to be an instrument for healing, that they too had been chosen to be God’s instruments.