Or I may not. Did you notice my 'tag line'?
I think it's a false opposition. I often err, but I try to choose my words carefully. So I spoke of the way in Christ and to Christ. It is not that I save myself by my works. That's patently ridiculous, at least, knowing me, to me. But Jesus prepares good works for me to walk in (Paul said that) and then "walks me" through them. (Paul implied that In Philippians, IMHO.) Anybody who doesn't think the whole thing is a gift isn't paying attention.
You're open to a "non-literal" interpretation of "this is my body", then. Great!
We say it is "really" His body and blood. We do not say it is "literally" His body and blood. (D00d, I'm a Dominican. We LIVE for distinctions.) "Literally" seems to convey something but leaves all the big questions unanswered.
Anybody who thinks that I thought that I was somehow acquiring merit or impressing God or anything of that kind is NUTZ! Anybody who thinks I was conjuring God or Mary or whatever is equally deranged.
It was the “sorrowful mysteries” we were praying. We thought about our Lord's Agony, Scourging, Crowning with Thorns, Carrying His Cross, and being nailed to it and dying on it. Then we implored God to have mercy “on us and on the whole world.”
This latter is always good for me. We were being harangued by a possessed madman who, as mad people so often do, had some very sharp and well directed barbs. And as he howled at us, we were asking God to have mercy on Him, and on the poor workers and clients in the abortuary.
YOU may say “vain repetition”. We're used to it. But for us it's anything but vain. To contemplate the last, say, 21 hours of our Lord's life, and the way they tried to dehumanize him before they tortured him — in front of an abortuary? To work through the anger and horror and sorrow and ask for mercy for the people who so terribly disagree with us?
This is not a mere accomplishment — no such tawdry thing! It is an operation of grace. As I in this simple activity submitted myself to God, He scoured my heart — from the inside! Yes, I teared up. I don't consider myself special or good or full of merit. I consider God full of mercy and generosity. HIM I praise because he has done great things for me and holy is his name.The very possibility (realized or not) of merit is His gift. How could I ever think I had anything of my own? The very idea is preposterous.