Mathematics educators and researchers have increasingly integrated social justice-oriented tasks into their classrooms. Teaching mathematics for social justice (TMfSJ) aims to help students develop mathematical knowledge in ways that promote students' abilities to critique the communities of which they are members (Ellis & Malloy, 2007; Gutstein, 2006). Kokka (2022) specified affective pedagogical goals in TMfSJ to address feelings, emotions, and well-being by centering relationships and healing. Gutiérrez (2018) advocated for rehumanizing mathematics, emphasizing the need for every student to have opportunities where the curriculum serves as both a window to the world and a mirror of themselves. This approach aims to accurately reflect and reveal both the multicultural world and the student's own identity (Style, 1996). Drawing upon this theoretical shift toward the affective turn and aiming to create an explicit heuristic for TMfSJ, the authors propose a "Notice-Wonder-Deeply Care About" routine. This routine prioritizes building students' empathy while unveiling their profound concerns. The approach amplifies the power of TMfSJ by enhancing critical civic empathy, which nurtures students' empathy beyond surface-level kindness for positive societal change (Mirra, 2018). The authors argue that centering critical civic empathy in mathematics classrooms has the potential to align mathematical concepts, students' lives, and broader societal implications.