He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money and he wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven.
So he began to pray that he might be able to
take some of his wealth with him.
An angel hears his plea and appears to him.
"Sorry, but you can't take your wealth with you." T
he man implores the angel to speak to God
to see if He might bend the rules.
The man continues to pray that his wealth could follow him.
The angel reappears and informs the man that
God had decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the
man gathers his largest suitcase
and fills it with pure gold bars and places it beside his bed.
Soon afterward the man dies and shows up
at the Gates of Heaven to greet St. Peter.
Peter seeing the suitcase says,
"Hold on, you can't bring that in here!"
But, the man explains to Peter that he has permission
and asks him to verify his story with the Lord.
Sure enough, Peter checks and comes back saying,
"You're right. You are allowed one carry-on bag,
but I'm supposed to check it's contents before letting it through."
Peter opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly items
that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaims,
"You brought pavement?!!!"
