Bette Midler sang "Wind Beneath My Wings" at Sunday's "Prayer for America" at New York's Yankee Stadium.

The singer and actress -- after finishing the song in the afternoon sunlight yelling "I love you, New York City" -- ran over to be closer to the audience, blowing kisses to victims, family members, friends, colleagues and rescue workers of the World Trade Center attacks of September 11.

Earlier, tenor Placido Domingo's singing of "Ave Maria" had led to a similarly poignant moment. The hymn is a favorite of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose arrival at the podium drew many members of the audience to their feet in applause.
"Now we understand much more clearly," Giuliani told the crowd, "why people from all over the world want to come to New York and to America. It's called freedom."

New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani : "A little miracle."

In the first large-scale and formally staged program offered in memory of those killed or missing and presumed dead in the terrorist assault on the twin towers, Giuliani once again praised the rescue and response personnel who converged on downtown Manhattan in an effort to save lives. They will, he said, "occupy a permanent and sacred place in our history and in our hearts."

A prelude to Sunday's "Prayer for America" service at Yankee Stadium had been led off with "Amazing Grace" played by New York Police Department bagpipers, many of them wiping tears between phrases of the music. Tenor Ronan Tynan followed the pipers, as did a gospel ensemble in an elegiac performance of "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again."

"Our spirit is unbroken. In fact, it is stronger than ever." Actor James Earl Jones drew quick applause from the crowd as he opened the service. "Today we reaffirm our faith in the essential dignity of every individual," Jones said. "What we share as Americans and as human beings is far greater than what divides us."

Oprah Winfrey "We have a new angel."

In the first large-scale and formally staged program Jones introduced the program's host, Winfrey, who told the crowd, "Every story we have heard pains us so much because we know that their stories are our stories. .... We shall not be moved."
"Let not one single life have passed in vain," Winfrey said at the close of Sunday's service, before handing off to Archbishop Demetrious of the Greek Orthodox Church of America for a benediction. "What really matters is who you love and how you love."