On the early morning hours of Monday, January 17, 1994, a deadly magnitude 6.6 earthquake ripped through the pre-dawn darkness, awaking the Los Angeles area with a violent convulsion that buckled freeways, sandwiched buildings, ruptured pipelines, and sent emergency crews searching desperately for bodies trapped under the rubble.

The trembler left 57 people dead in its wake, with nearly 3000 people injured, and an estimated 30 billion dollars in damage.  They're calling it the worst quake to hit L.A. this century.

On Monday, January 17, which was the day of the tremor, Veronica was pondering deeply over the disturbing news of the Los Angeles quake, when at 3:40 p.m. there appeared to her a flash of bright light which was to announce Our Lady's coming.  The Blessed Virgin then gave Veronica the following message in locution:

"Do not be overly concerned at this time, for it is only the beginning of the sorrows."

This calls to mind the passage in the Gospel where Jesus says, "There shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places: now all these are the beginnings of sorrows" (St. Matt. 24:7-8).