Trent on salvation and works

http://socrates58.blogspot.com/2006/08/did-council-of-trent-teach-that-man-is.html

note-- as one person said:  (not-yet-living) faith precedes justification, agape (as disposition) is simultaneous with (because constitutive of) justification, and particular acts of merit follow justification.  [found in part of comment 4 here  http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2009/10/a-reply-from-a-romery-person/]

and from comment 2 :
 Catholic theology does not hold agape to be a constituent of faith; but it does hold agape to be that which makes faith to be living faith, and only living faith justifies. Hence in that respect Catholic theology holds agape to be constitutive of justification. St. Augustine said, “Without love [agape] faith can indeed exist, but can be of no avail.” (De Trin. XV 18, 32) Protestant theology, on the other hand, makes justification depend on faith alone, even though that faith (if it is genuine) will necessarily be followed by agape.


 it is possible, without agape, with the aid of actual grace (first operative grace and then cooperative grace) to prepare oneself to receive sanctifying grace and agape. These preparations are not meritorious, because one does not yet have sanctifying grace (and a participation in the divine nature), and hence one’s actions are not ordered to a supernatural end. So our preparation for justification is not meritorious. At our baptism, we are justified by God, who infuses agape into our souls, and thereby makes us worthy of eternal life. So Catholic theology does not claim that any meritorious acts lead to our justification. That would be impossible, because it is impossible to merit anything at the supernatural level without already being justified (i.e. having sanctifying grace and agape), and so being ordered to a supernatural end.