"How foolish would it be for me to get into that image of keeping up a reputation as a ninja warrior?" asked Cupich, to laughter.
"I think of that, because it is foolish as well for us to try to keep up an image that we think (will) please other people," he said.
Other people choose to make their image a "central preoccupation" of their lives, he said, but the Christian should not.
"It is a good test of whether or not we're open to this God who wants us to trust Him," said Cupich. "A God who in fact schemes to the point of trickiness so that we trust Him."
Earlier in the day, Cupich delivered the opening keynote address, titled "Our Call to Holiness: Life and Justice for All," to the meeting. In the address, Cupich said that Christians should look to the actions of Christ as the inspiration for their lives.
"Our Christian call to holiness is not about being called as individuals, but an invitation from God in which he brings people together, and invites believers to a deeper level of human intercommunion and a shared life," Cupich said during his keynote.
The cardinal reflected on his experience seeing an exhibit of Andy Warhol's paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago, including one that included an image of the Last Supper superimposed with camouflage. A piece of the camouflage exposed the image of Christ, which Cupich said "forc(ed) the viewer to look for the otherwise familiar image of the Lord at table."
"May the light of the Gospel help us see through whatever camouflages the needy from our sight, whatever impedes us from being evangelized from those on the margins," he said.
"For it is in encountering the poor and the marginalized that we are mutually enriched, that we respond to the call to holiness as we take up the social ministry of the Church - because we know that whatever we do for the least of our sisters and brothers, we do for Christ."
Christine Rousselle is a former DC Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. Prior to working at CNA, she was the managing web editor of Townhall.com; she has a BA in political science from Providence College.