Lord have mercy upon me but I am compelled to respond to this. At every Holy Mass I attend the following is said:
To us also Thy sinful servants, who put our trust in the multitude of Thy mercies, vouchsafe to grant some part and fellowship with Thy holy Apostles and Martyrs: with John, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicitas, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia, and all Thy Saints. Into their company we beseech Thee admit us, not considering our merits, but freely pardoning our offenses. Through Christ our Lord.
NOT by our merits. Our trust is in the mercy of God and His free pardon of our sins through Christ our Lord. I don't think this is some kind of word game, I believe it. The Mass goes on:
By whom, O Lord, Thou dost always create, sanctify +, quicken +, bless +, and bestow upon us all these good things. Through Him +, and with Him +, and in Him +, is unto Thee, God the Father + Almighty, in the unity of the Holy + Ghost, all honor and glory.
And all the people said Amen. No really, that's where the people say Amen.
Well, that's lovely, I'm delighted that you have grasped the truth about the grace of God, but, I hope you can appreciate the disconnect being made right here. We have Editor-surveyor and Verga, along with af_vet-1981 all contending for a salvation that IS based on our merits. They give lip service to the gospel of grace and the place of faith, but then turn around and qualify it, adding all the works/things one MUST do in order to some day have eternal life in heaven. Faith PLUS our works in order to be made righteous by grace is NOT the true gospel.
That sola ecclesia isn't working any better than how some here have falsely concluded sola Scriptura does. ALL truths of the Christian faith have their source in the Bible - it is God's specially revealed and preserved love letter to the body of Christ - which is what makes IT the authority over any humanly devised doctrines.
No one is denying that God has created us for good works and that the Holy Spirit within us leads us to desire to please God out of gratitude for His love and grace. Nobody is contending for a free-for-all, sin all you want Christian life because we have been saved by grace apart from our works. We readily acknowledge that there are consequences for disobedience and that God WILL deal with us as His children, disciplining us and conforming us into the image of Christ. But, all these things point out is that we are STILL saved by grace through faith and not by works - lest ANYONE should boast.
Paul said that ANY other gospel than the one he preached is an accursed gospel. It is solely by grace THROUGH faith that we are saved and grace PLUS something we add to it nullifies grace. It is NOT by our works of righteousness that we are saved but by the grace and mercy of Almighty God. THAT is the true gospel and is proved by God's sacred word over and over again.